You could almost hear Zach Wilson smiling on the other end of the phone on 2021 draft night when the euphoric power brokers inside the Jets’ war room called their new face of the franchise.
“Just remember, man. This is still the same game you’ve been playing when you were 7 years old.”
That was GM Joe Douglas.
“I’m going to give you guys everything I got.”
That was Zach Wilson.
“This organization is going to lift you, not the other way around.”
That was coach Robert Saleh.
“You’re going to love it here.”
That was team owner Woody Johnson.
Now, here they all stand, bracing for another winter of their discontent, five games left of a failed marriage in their third year together.
Everything that has happened to Wilson — and just about everything has happened to him — shouldn’t matter to him now.
The rain and the wind anticipated Sunday would only be the latest antagonists in a career that has been a veritable perfect storm.
Wilson has nothing to lose across this five-game audition that begins on Sunday against the Texans. He can go out and play the way he played when his football dream began as a wide-eyed 7-year-old in Utah.
He has been to Hell and back. The organization did anything but lift him, and if he had lifted them, Aaron Rodgers would not have been a Jet.
For Zach Wilson, it’s no use crying over spilt milk.
He won’t be putting an end to the Jets’ 12-year playoff drought, but he will have one last chance to write the likely end of his New York story in his own words.
He has been knocked down time and time again, one benching after the next, teammates wearing Mike Effin’ White T-shirts a year ago, Joe Namath lambasting him, a reported accusation that he was reluctant to return as QB1, Saleh offering excuses from Day 1 for him and grasping at any straw he could, boobirds forever waiting for promised off-platform throws ringing in his ears at each third down and red zone travesty.
Now let’s watch him get up. If he can.
Let’s see if he can at least show New York that he is a fighter.
Just because C.J. Stroud is Offensive Rookie of the Year doesn’t mean the quarterback on the other side is forbidden to figure out a way to play complementary football with his formidable defense and special teams, and win the damn game and end this five-game losing streak.
It wasn’t so long ago that Zach Wilson and Garrett Wilson had visions of a Wilson-to-Wilson connection that would terrify secondaries. On 2022 draft night, Zach Wilson tweeted: “What’s better than 1 Wilson? 2 Wilsons. Let’s goooooo!”
Shortly after that draft, the Jets trotted out first-round picks Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner and Jermaine Johnson for a press conference, and Garrett Wilson was asked about Zach Wilson:
“Being a receiver that likes to stretch the field and make plays, I feel like he can put it anywhere on the field. That’s what you want in your quarterback. I hear about the type of person he is as well. I know he has what it takes to be great, for sure.”
They all thought that.
They all thought wrong.
They all thought trial by fire from Day 1 would be beneficial for Zach.
They all thought wrong.
Nothing you can do about any of that now, Kid.
What you can do is grab this moment by the throat and dare to be good, if great is asking too much of you. Get the ball to Garrett Wilson. On this Dark Ages offense Nathaniel Hackett has been coordinating, his star has been dimmed. There are these last five games for you and Garrett Wilson to start realizing the dream you dreamed together, and maybe Garrett can stop feeling as if his otherworldly gifts are being wasted.
There was that fourth-quarter comeback in Pittsburgh in Zach’s 2022 debut and outplaying Patrick Mahomes in Week 4 on “Sunday Night Football,” and that is the Zach Wilson he needs to find again now. If he can.
Throw caution to the wind, Kid. Play free and liberated. Go out on that field with an F-it attitude. Play with swag. Play to win. Think of your return to QB1 after two weeks of watching Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian as a new, if only fleeting, lease on life.
If you’re going to go down again, go down swinging. It’s your last chance to leave a last impression. No one wants to be remembered as a bust. The hell with them if they do.