Getty New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (left) chats with head coach Robert Saleh (right).
It’s officially the bye week around the New York Jets community but head coach Robert Saleh is still embodying the “All Gas No Brake” mentality agreeing to interview after interview.
That’s the life of a New York City head coach in the National Football League and Saleh has embraced every part of an area that he now calls home — including the tough love criticism.
As the saying goes, “if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.” No one has learned that more over the past two years than quarterback Zach Wilson — although Saleh might be a close second — and he backed his young signal-caller once again during a featured spot with Mike Silver on the “Open Mike” podcast.
Robert Saleh: Zach Wilson Is ‘Lightyears Ahead’ of Rookie Year
During the 34-minute one-on-one, Silver asked Saleh about everything from his finance career to his 6-3 Jets roster that relies on a QB that is right on the cusp of figuring it all out — at least according to his head coach.
“He’s still a pup,” Saleh told Silver when the conversation transitioned to where Wilson is in his development. “It’s different than back when I first got in the league, where a quarterback sat for a couple of years and then — like Aaron Rodgers sat for a few years behind Brett [Favre] and his first couple of years weren’t all peaches and cream but you saw a young man who had the potential to be really really good and then all of a sudden it just clicks. They go to the Super Bowl, they win it, and it’s like ‘damn this guy’s good,’ and now he’s one of the best quarterbacks ever.”
Wilson — like most young quarterbacks in this day and age — was not given the opportunity to watch and learn until his injury during his rookie campaign. It’s no coincidence that he displayed a more polished brand of football upon his return.
Aside from the New England horror show, Wilson has shown that he can play within the system in 2022 as well, winning all five of his other starts. Keep in mind, the Jets went 1-2 under a pass-happy Joe Flacco during the first three weeks of the season.
“It usually takes [QB prospects] a couple of years,” Saleh continued, “if you just stick with them and you just have patience and you build around them and you give them a chance to grow into the role they’re in — quarterback is the hardest position in all of sports, you’re a pinata back there [that] has 2.5 seconds to make a decision or you’re just going to get crushed by a 300-pound madman, and so you have the whole team on your shoulders.”
The overall response from Saleh was casual up until this point, when the HC decided to stand on the soapbox for Wilson more than he normally would.
“He’s been getting a lot better,” Saleh voiced confidently, “anyone who doesn’t acknowledge the fact that he is lightyears ahead of where he was a year ago isn’t really watching football… and anyone who doesn’t think he’ll be lightyears [ahead] next year from where he is now, doesn’t have faith in him. We have faith that he’s going to continue to get better and we see signs of it in practice, we see signs of it in games.”
It was another strong show of support from Saleh, which tells us that if there is any sort of leash on Wilson over the second half of the season, it’s a fairly long one.
Zach Wilson Is Not the Anomaly — But Can Still Be the Answer
“Everyone is looking for the anomaly,” Saleh explained to Silver earlier in the interview, using Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert as examples of quarterback prospects that didn’t take long to develop at the NFL level.
With injuries around them in 2022, Burrow’s QB rating has dropped to tied for 13th in the NFL on ESPN, while Herbert has dropped to 11th. Wilson currently ranks 20th in QBR — but he’d be a lot higher if not for the Patriots outing.
Players like Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Mac Jones, and Rodgers himself are all ranked lower than Zach Wilson in 2022, among others.
On the other hand, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts — the current leaders in the MVP conversation — all took time to develop. Mahomes learned under Alex Smith while Allen and Hurts struggled to swim after being tossed into the ocean. The latter two are more comparable to Wilson’s journey in New York.
The BYU alum’s story still has plenty of unwritten chapters, but keep in mind that his most productive college campaign came in year three. Assuming he doesn’t get injured again, that would equate to the Jets’ 2023 season.
Until then, Saleh’s stance is pretty clear: Show some patience when it comes to Wilson, we’re evaluating him on a daily basis but we also drafted him for a reason.