Zach Wilson skips offseason workouts (as he should)
Three years after quarterback Zach Wilson was the consensus No. 2 overall pick in the draft, the Jets are ready to move on. Wilson clearly is, too.
Via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, Wilson did not report for the start of voluntary workouts this week.
It's a smart move by Wilson. It's his only move. The Jets no longer want him around. But they also want to have their cake and not eat it, too.
The Jets, presumably following the lead of owner Woody Johnson, are playing games with Wilson. They won't cut him while they hope to trade him. To date, no one has shown any interest in trading for him.
The Jets owe Wilson $5.4 million for 2024, fully guaranteed. If they were to cut him, they'd get an offset in the amount of the league minimum of $1.055 million, if someone else signs him. If no one else signs him, they'd owe the full amount.
Johnson's attitude is simple. If we have to pay him, we'll keep him. Even if he's now third on the depth chart, behind Aaron Rodgers and Tyrod Taylor.
At some level, the Jets might be hoping that Wilson will agree to give up a chunk of his guaranteed salary in order to get his freedom. Or maybe they'll wait for a team to get desperate following an in-season injury to a starter.
Some would say the Jets' refusal to cut Wilson is just another sign of the franchise's ongoing and chronic dysfunction. Look at the other teams that drafted first-round quarterbacks in 2021. While Johnson surely thinks that the Jets can get something for Wilson (like the 49ers did for Trey Lance, like the Bears did for Justin Fields, and like the Patriots did for Mac Jones), at this point the better long-term approach would be to just let him go.
Not as a favor to Wilson. But as a message to whoever the next first-round potential franchise quarterback the Jets will select.
Why do you think the Bears let Fields hand pick his next destination? With Caleb Williams on the way in, the Bears needed to show him that, if things go poorly, they'll do right by him. And so they did right by Fields.
Are the Jets doing right by Wilson, by stubbornly squatting on him until someone gives them a late-round pick? That's for Wilson to decide. More importantly, that's for the next high-end prospect the Jets will be thinking about taking with an inevitable top-five pick to decide.
For now, they have Aaron Rodgers. If things go sideways this year, they'll be looking for a new franchise quarterback as soon as next year.
Would a top prospect want to play for the Jets? In making the decision, the treatment of Zach Wilson absolutely becomes a factor.
