10:41am: White will receive the call against Chicago, Saleh said. The former Cowboys fifth-round pick made three starts for an injured Wilson last season. White, 27, completed 66.7% of his passes last season and threw five touchdown passes against eight interceptions. Flacco will be White’s backup, per Saleh, who said (via the New York Post’s Brian Costello, on Twitter) Wilson will be inactive.
White created tremendous buzz with his 400-yard game against the eventual AFC champion Bengals, but after suffering an injury in the Jets’ ensuing game, he crashed back to earth via a four-INT dud against the Bills. By benching a formerly coveted prospect for White, the Jets are placing a great deal of faith in a player who has not taken a 2022 snap.
10:03am: Robert Saleh opened the door to a Zach Wilson benching Monday, and the Jets are following through with the move. During a Wednesday team meeting, players learned the second-year quarterback will be benched for Week 12, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
Considering the investment the Jets made in Wilson, it is obviously a major development they are sitting him due to performance issues so early in his tenure. The team bailed on a No. 3 overall pick (Sam Darnold) after three seasons to take Wilson second overall. But Wilson has floundered since returning from a preseason knee injury, putting Saleh in a bind.
At 6-4, the Jets have a chance to secure their first playoff berth since 2011. That currently represents the NFL’s longest postseason drought — by a considerable margin. The team has greatly improved on defense, vaulting from 32nd in Saleh’s first year to being a top-10 unit in both total defense and points allowed. Wilson has done well to restrict that defense, struggling to justify that No. 2 overall investment.
Wilson, who rocketed onto the first-round radar after a breakthrough 2020 season at BYU, has completed less than 56% of his passes this season and has thrown just four touchdown passes in seven 2022 starts. Wilson’s 55.6% completion rate matches his 13-start rookie figure, inviting concern — especially with the Jets making more investments at receiver this offseason. The Jets are coming off one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history. Their 103 total yards is the fourth-lowest number in franchise annals. Their Wilson-directed Week 18 showing last season (53) ranks as the worst.
Wilson’s comments after his 9-for-22, 77-yard outing in Foxborough also became an issue. The young passer indicating he did not feel he let his defense down rankled some defensive players. Saleh keeping Wilson as the starter may have created a locker room problem. Addressing the situation, Saleh said (via SNY’s Connor Hughes, on Twitter) “maybe there’s a little irritation at the moment, but I don’t think there’s hate.” Still, this could be a significant turning point for the Jets, who have invested tremendous draft capital at the quarterback position in recent years. Wilson remaining on the bench the rest of the way certainly calls his long-term status into question.
The Jets recently demoted Week 1 starter Joe Flacco to their third-string post, moving Mike White — their initial Wilson replacement last year — to the backup job. White emerged as a Wilson threat last year, after becoming the first Jet to surpass 400 passing yards since Vinny Testaverde in an upset win over the Bengals. That talk died down after White struggled to replicate that form, however. When asked who would take over for Wilson if he did not receive the call against the Bears, Saleh did not say whether it would be White or Flacco. Despite starting just three games, Flacco still leads the Jets with five touchdown passes this season. Whoever does receive the call will be tasked with keeping the Jets in the playoff mix.
The Jets could conceivably circle back to Wilson, justifying this as a temporary shutdown to allow for further development. In explaining his decision to bench Wilson, Saleh said the former mid-major prospect’s Jets career is “not over.” Saleh said the intent is for Wilson to play again this season.
While undoubtedly a blow to the team’s big-picture plan, Wilson also is not showing improvement during second season as a full-time starter. The Jets zeroed in on Wilson in 2021, moving the draft’s suspense to the 49ers’ No. 3 spot. After the Jaguars went with locked-in No. 1 prospect Trevor Lawrence, the Jets went with Wilson, doing so despite the latter’s 2020 rise aided by a COVID-19-altered BYU schedule that featured lesser opposition. The Jets will face one of the QBs they bypassed — Justin Fields — on Sunday.
HIDE YOUR MOMS!
Sounds like yet another QB bust for the Jets
He earned the benching.
It’s definitely understandable to bench him when he’s not only playing badly, but seems to be frustrating everyone else on the team and not showing accountability the way a QB needs to. At the same time, if anyone was going to be a get right game, the Bears defense and a Bears team likely missing Fields would sure be a good candidate.
The Jets are 1-4 at home vs Chicago never having scored more than 19 points in those games. I’m anticipating an exciting 3-0 battle with Santos providing an edge for the Bears.
What on earth does the Jets performance in a matchup of Chad Pennington and Rex Grossman have to do with a matchup in 2022?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana
That quote doesn’t really apply here. If the Bears suddenly get Brian Urlacher back, your point might make a thimble of sense.
Don’t help Jalen Hurts just getting better year after year. And this kid just keeps costing along collecting a check.
Maybe throw for 100 years each week. Dude puts up yards totals like it’s the 60s again.
Flacco can at least manage a game without being the reason for losing it. Mike White hasn’t looked very good either
Last time Flacco started, he put up two interceptions, four sacks, and a sub-54% completion percentage. Wilson has been awful, but Flacco is still a dismal starting option in 2022.
Flacco also won a few games for them too. He’s likely the Jets’ best starter right now-unless White’s showings subsequent to his breakout debut owed more to his injury than to his overall capability.
Oh, he absolutely might be their best starter right now. That’s still a dismal position to be in. It’s a shame, since the defense and pass catching group are both impressive.
I think White’s subsequent showings are more like his true talent level. That one breakout game was largely based on him completing extremely short passes. And hey, it would be great if Zach Wilson would do more of that instead of panicking and trying to bail himself out with hero ball. But White is a very limited guy, and at best, I think he’s doing the Nick Mullens thing where he adequately operates a QB-proofed Shanahan offensive scheme for a few games.
I agree.
Not signing a serviceable backup in the off season sure looks silly now!
It looked silly at the time too
The Jets is where young talented quarterbacks go to die
I’m not sure that I can blame New York for Wilson’s incompetence. Joe Douglas, who has had a mostly good tenure as GM, forced the selection I think, but other than that has built a good team through the draft without selling off New York’s picks for short term gains. Salah seems to be proving himself as a good coach. They are being held back by a QB who hasn’t seemed so far to develop. I think that, in this case, they’ve given Wilson a decent opportunity to succeed. He just has not done so.
Jets jets jets !
In explaining his decision to bench Wilson, Saleh said the former mid-major prospect’s Jets career is “not over.”
Kiss of death!
Too bad the trading deadline has passed. I am sure that 3 or 4 teams would like to trade their own failed QB prospect for Wilson. Green Bay, Houston, San Fran, and Tennessee immediately come to mind.
I would hardly classify Mills as a “failed prospect.” He was drafted in the third round and clearly, he has proven himself to be a solid NFL backup; no more. I would say that just about matches his draft status. Russell Wilson is the exception; not the norm.
As for Willis, it was known when he was drafted that it would take some polishing for him to succeed in the NFL. He has the athletic upside, but it will take some time to develop into more of a pocket passer. Whether he can do so remains to be seen. Again though, he was drafted in the third round, so if he doesn’t, it’s not that big of a deal.
Love is also an unknown quantity, given that he has been stuck behind Rodgers. I suppose if you want to classify him as a failed prospect after one start from a year ago, be my guest, but I would recommend giving him a larger sample size before doing so.
Finally, Lance say out his rookie year to develop behind Jimmy G before immediately suffering an injury. Let’s give him a legitimate change to show what he can do before tossing out labels
I really hope this is sarcasm.
Houston is rebuilding has no need for Wilson.
SF kept Garapollo which looks like the wise decision now so they had no need for Wilson. If anything they can cut loose on Lance and keep Garapollo via franchise tag.
Green Bay has Aaron Rodgers for 3 years so not sure why they’re mentioned. They need wrs not a qb.
And Tennessee is a run first offense which makes no sense to trade for and pay Wilson.
How is Willis a failed prospect? He was drafted 7 months ago and has thrown 30 NFL passes while backing up an established veteran QB as planned.
FINALLY!!!!
Why announce the switch now and allow the Bears to prepare for White? Suggest a game time decision may have been a better choice for the announcement.
Joe Flacco needs pass protection to succeed. He offers the best chance to get the Jets to the playoffs. Remember the Browns game. It shows what he can still do. Wise up Saleh.
Flacco played masterfully in that Browns game. I do not think that he’d be able to do that in every start at this point in his career, but overall he likely gives New York their best chance to win right now. Unless White played poorly due to his injury and has the capacity to replicate his start against Cincy more consistently, Flacco is probably the best quarterback New York has at this moment.
Think Wilson’s unaccountability interview was main reason for benching in addition to his performance.
The Jets had their chance to get Watson. But they didn’t want him. Watson would of been the guy to take them to a superbowl. But as the saying goes. Same old, Same old. Don’t worry Jets will get a has been for next year QB
No NFL club in NYC was ever going to sign a QB who was under a cloud of suspicion for rape.
BTW the White-for-ZWilson move didn’t affect the total or the spread, at least thru Thanksgiving night.