Zach Wilson is approaching a crucial time when it comes to whether or not the New York Jets will decide to keep him on as their quarterback moving forward, claims Mike Florio. 

The New York Jets, having been something of a laughing stock in recent years, finally looked as if they might be in a position to turn themselves around after a strong start to 2022, a season in which they have already beaten the back-to-back #1 seed in the NFC in the Green Bay Packers and many people’s favourites for the Super Bowl this year in the Buffalo Bills.

Heading into yesterday’s game with the New England Patriots, they held a 6-3 record and were the #5 seed in the AFC playoff picture, in large part due to their defense which ranks in the top ten in the league for yards given up, points conceded and turnovers created. 

However, that ability on defense hasn’t yet translated to the offensive side of the ball, where the Jets currently rank 29th in yards and 24th in points scored, and that in large part falls on the ability, or perhaps lack thereof, of second-year quarterback Zach Wilson.

Zach Wilson wilting under the expectations

Having had a rough debut year in the league, only throwing for nine touchdowns against eleven interceptions and only putting up 2,334 passing yards all season, this was meant to be a year that Wilson took a step forward and established himself as someone who could take the Jets forward.

Instead, that progress has yet to materialise, as in his seven games so far this season, he’s thrown for just 1,279 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions, all whilst completing exactly the same percentage of passes as last year at 55.6%.

Despite this though, he doesn’t seem to think that he is the problem, as he made pretty clear with his comments after their 10-3 loss to the Patriots, a game in which he only threw for 77 yards and completed just barely over 40% of his passes, that attitude is reportedly causing quite an issue in the locker room.

And that might be part of the reason that Mike Florio claims that Wilson is under a serious amount of pressure heading into next year. He gave his views on Football Night In America (starting at 10:41), in which he pointed out how quarterbacks like him are handled, and how his performances are likely to impact how he’s looked on this upcoming offseason: 

We know that highly drafted quarterbacks get three years. He's more than halfway there, to getting to the point where you pass a verdict on the guy and that is who he is, and then good luck finding your way elsewhere in the NFL. I've yet to see the lift, I've yet to see the consistency, I've yet to see the growth and the maturity. He's put himself in a position where there's going to be as much pressure on him going into next season as there was on Tua Tagovailoa going into this season.

It might not even be three years if he keeps playing the way he has done, if he can’t play to a level that makes the Jets think he’s the man, why not make the change as soon as possible, similar to how the Arizona Cardinals got rid of Josh Rosen after one season.

If this defense is being held back by the quarterback, why not bring in someone, either in the draft, via free agency, or in a trade that can play to a level that can take the team forward instead.