Mike LaFleur says Zach Wilson would've benefited from sitting during rookie season: 'We gotta pick up the scraps'

Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said on Thursday that it would've benefited Zach Wilson to sit and watch instead of starting right away during his rookie season.

LaFleur's comments marked the first time anyone with the Jets had publicly admitted regret about how Wilson's rookie year development was handled.

Wilson, who showed flashes during the preseason in 2021, has been a major disappointment during his first two professional seasons, which led to his benching after Week 11 this season in favor of Mike White. Wilson returned as the starter in Week 15 and 16 while White was hurt, but was inactive for the Jets' do-or-die game against the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday as White started.

"It kind of is what it is in 2023 now, I guess you can say," LaFleur explained. "People don't want to wait, they want the instant gratification of these rookies, these second-year guys to be superstars. And you get why. This is a highly competitive environment. 

"I use the example of what's going on in Green Bay right now. Obviously, there's Brett Favre, Aaron (Rodgers) sat for four, I think five years. And Jordan Love is kind of going through it right now. I'm not there at practice, I can just go off the words that I hear, but just how much improvement he's had through three years of sitting there watching Aaron, going through the scout team and all that. And that was his path -- that is his path -- and we'll see what that holds for Jordan.

"Similar for Zach, in hindsight it probably would've benefited just to sit back and learn a little bit, and watch a veteran do it, and just kind of grow in this league kind of in the back seat watching -- getting better in practice, getting better through scout team and all that. But again, that wasn't the course that we went. From here, we gotta pick up the scraps and we gotta get back to work."

SNY's Connor Hughes reported earlier this week that while the Jets aren't planning on shopping Wilson and have been "doing everything they can to create the public perception" that he can still be their future QB1, the expectation is that he will not be in position to compete for the starting job during the 2023-24 season.

Instead, the Jets are going to find a quarterback from outside the organization to be their starter.

As far as Wilson's development and what's next, LaFleur -- who has been embattled because the Jets' anemic offense was a major reason why their 6-3 start became another season of watching from home during the playoffs -- said Gang Green will learn from the mistake they made with Wilson.

"If you think back to the preseason, I think everyone wanted to crown him after that first preseason, right? I don't think any of us got too high or too low on the preseason. He was playing pretty good football through that. We're gonna have to look back and see -- not necessarily red flags -- but what indicators were there that said he wasn't ready.

"Again, hindsight's 20/20. It really doesn't matter. We've just got to learn from it, and we will."