#Zach Wilson enters first Jets offseason with plenty to prove

The Jets entered last offseason with a major question at quarterback. You can’t say they enter this one knowing they have found the answer, but Zach Wilson showed enough for the Jets to believe he can be their long-term solution at the position. 

The 22-year-old had a rookie season filled with plenty of struggles as well as flashes of the skill that made him the No. 2-overall pick. He enters this offseason knowing he has plenty of work to do to improve and make progress in his second year. 

“I definitely have a list of things that I want to get better at overall and I’m actually really excited to go in and work on those things and then to come back next year and try to apply those,” Wilson said. “I think it will be good. We got a good group of dudes that I can do it with as well. I’m going to spend some time with those guys in the offseason, just trying to build that chemistry.” 

Wilson’s overall statistics were not great. He was the lowest-rated passer in the NFL among qualified quarterbacks. He completed 55.6 percent of his passes for 2,334 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 13 starts. He also ran for four touchdowns. 

Despite an underwhelming rookie campaign, Wilson’s belief in himself has not been shaken. 

“I have a 100 percent confidence in myself that I can play in this league and that I can play well and that I can help lead this team to do some special things,” Wilson said. 

Wilson said his plan is to return to his home state of Utah and get back to work soon. He wants to concentrate on getting stronger through his diet and strength training. 

The Jets wisely added Wilson’s personal coach, John Beck, to their coaching staff in October. Now, Beck will return to his private business and can work with Wilson. NFL coaches are not allowed to work with players after the season until mid-April. But because Beck is no longer a member of the Jets’ staff, he can. It gives Wilson and the Jets an advantage because Beck knows the team’s system and what the coaches were stressing to Wilson this season. 

“I think the cool thing is John got to witness firsthand, I guess, the struggles,” Wilson said, “the things I had to deal with as a rookie, the things that we had to go through as a team and so, it’s going to be easy for us to go ahead and, ‘Hey, these are the big points of emphasis that we were really trying to work on every single week.’ We can just kind of nail those down and he has a really good understanding, rather than me trying to portray to him maybe the feelings that we had or things that were going on, he was able to witness it.” 

Wilson’s rookie season can be divided into two sections: pre-injury and post-injury. Wilson suffered an MCL sprain in October and missed four games. When he came back, his statistics were not that much different, but he improved dramatically in three areas. He threw fewer interceptions, going from nine in six games to two in seven games. He trusted his legs more, rushing for 163 yards and four touchdowns after returning. He only ran the ball eight times for 22 yards before the injury. Finally, he looked more confident and calmer in the pocket, getting the ball out quickly. His best game of the season was against the Buccaneers in Week 17. 

“I think the strides you saw Zach make after coming back from the injury and, on top of that, not always being in position to be playing with the starters at all the skill spots — at wide receiver, tight end, running back — but to improve, to keep the team in contention late in these games a little undermanned,” general manager Joe Douglas said. “And on top of it, taking care of the football. I think those are all very impressive things in the back half of the season. 

“So, I feel very confident about his development moving forward.”