The New York Jets have made a key decision with the quarterback depth chart.
Head coach Robert Saleh announced during his Monday, December 26 presser that Zach Wilson will return to his role as QB3 moving forward.
In a corresponding move, Mike White was medically cleared and will start at quarterback on Sunday versus the Seattle Seahawks and veteran Joe Flacco will serve as the backup.
Zach Wilson Has Been Demoted Once Again by the Jets
This is the second time Wilson has been demoted this season.
After the 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots on November 20, Saleh made the former No. 2 overall pick a healthy scratch for three straight weeks.
Ahead of the Week 15 home game versus the Detroit Lions, Wilson was promoted to backup and eventually was forced to start due to White getting hurt.
He got two straight starts versus the Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars but failed to deliver both statistically and in the win-loss column.
Now Wilson will remain on the inactive list for the rest of 2022.
Saleh also announced that White will be his starting quarterback for the rest of the regular season and playoffs “barring injury.” Flacco will serve as the backup and Wilson can shift into offseason mode.
Saleh said that Wilson isn’t going to be a kid that “quits” despite the adversity he has been handed in just his second season.
“While it doesn’t look good and while it doesn’t seem like there is a light at the end of the tunnel you just got to put your head down and just keep working eventually it’ll come through. There are a lot of quarterbacks in this league who have made it out of the dark tunnel. If you look throughout the league there are more quarterbacks than not that have started in the dungeon if you will and have found their way out to sunlight.”
#Jets HC Robert Saleh said if you ‘look throughout the #NFL more quarterbacks than not have started in the dungeon & have found their way out to sunlight’ when talking about Zach Wilson’s rough start but still having a chance to come out of this: 🎥 @nyjets #TakeFlight
Robert Saleh Fires Back at Viral Jets-Zach Wilson Bombshell
Over the holiday weekend Jets fans lost their collective minds when NFL Insider Jay Glazer announced that the team is expected to move on from Zach Wilson this offseason.
.@JayGlazer says the #Jets have ‘lost all confidence’ in Zach Wilson & dropped a bombshell ‘expect the Jets to move on from him after this season’ 😳: 🎥 @NFLonFOX #TakeFlight
It sent shockwaves around social media and opened the potential for trade chatter this offseason.
However when coach Saleh was asked about the report he completely shot it down on Monday:
“That report is all speculation. [Zach Wilson] still has a huge plan in our future and like I said we aren’t quitting on the young man. We are going to do everything we can to develop him.”
#Jets HC Robert Saleh shot down the @JayGlazer reporting from over the weekend that the team plans on moving on from Zach Wilson this offseason, ‘that report is all speculation’ + ‘he still has a huge plan in our future’: 🎥 @nyjets #TakeFlight @NFLonFOX
At the end of the day, what did you expect the coach to say? That report was spot on we totally plan on dumping Wilson this offseason. Of course not.
Jay Glazer did his job of reporting what he is hearing and coach Saleh did his part by defending his quarterback.
Even if the Jets are actually planning on moving away from Wilson it wouldn’t make sense to announce that publicly. That could only hurt their leverage in a potential future trade conversation.
Wilson is the only quarterback under contract for the Jets next season so if he isn’t a part of their plans that means a lot of change is coming to the room over the next handful of months.
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Jets Make Final Decision on QB Zach Wilson for 2022