Zach Wilson doesn't have to become franchise QB in Year 2, but must prove he's on his way

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – The Jets spent 19 long years looking up in the standings at Tom Brady, dreaming of someday having a quarterback like him. That spanned most of Zach Wilson’s life too, from age 2 through his sophomore year in college.

So it would be understandable if everyone was growing a little impatient. The Jets have rifled through 22 starting quarterbacks since Brady emerged as their nemesis, after all, and they’re on their second young, franchise quarterback in the last three seasons. They really do need Wilson to be their Brady. Wilson wants to be their Brady.

From Robert Saleh’s seat, though, it just doesn’t have to happen right now.

"He doesn’t need to be Tom Brady this year," Saleh insisted on Wednesday, before he wrapped up the final Jets practice of their mandatory minicamp. "Now if he ends up being that, that’s awesome. But that’s not the expectation. The expectation is for him to continue to climb that mountain that’s quarterback play in this league."

That was a nice try by the head coach to manage expectations. And he’s definitely not wrong. There really is no need for Wilson to blossom into Tom Brady – or the Jets’ version of him – right now.

But there really is no way around the heightened expectations for Wilson’s second season at the helm of this franchise. And there’s no avoiding the fact that this season isn’t about growth or maturity or the process of his development. It’s not about the franchise quarterback just taking another methodical step towards whatever he’s going to be.

It’s about answering this question: Is Zach Wilson really any good?

The Jets franchise – particularly the Joe Douglas-Saleh regime – has bet everything on the answer being a resounding yes. And so far there’s no reason to doubt them. But this is still the year where Wilson needs to back up their faith. He doesn’t need to be perfect. He doesn’t need to be great. But he needs to show he’s well on his way to being a very good quarterback.

And he absolutely needs to be a heck of a lot better than he was last year.

So far this offseason it’s all been good. Saleh loves what he’s seen from the still-22-year-old face of the franchise. He loves the way he went to work hard after "a rough rookie year." He loves the way he rebuilt his body in the offseason, turning more "beefy" as the coach famously described him. And he loves everything he’s seen on the field this spring, "The decisiveness, the accuracy, the footwork, the eye placement," Saleh said.

It’s all been good. And it will get better, Saleh insisted. He just doesn’t want his young quarterback to feel pressure to skip ahead.

"I think Zach’s ceiling is exactly what I think he thinks his ceiling is, which is no limit to what we think he’s capable of," Saleh said. "And I mean that genuinely. To try to blow through the ceiling without really being the master of the 101 aspect of football is unfair. It’s unfair to himself.

"Yeah he’s a competitor. He wants explosive plays. He wants to be the best quarterback in the league on Day 1. We all want to be the best at what we do. But for him it’s not about being the best today, it’s about being your best today."

That’s not Saleh’s way of dampening the enthusiasm around a player the Jets generally believe will eventually be a great quarterback. It’s just an extension of his long-stated plan to slowly, patiently, and methodically build the Jets into a perennial contender. He knows this franchise and fanbase may have been searching for an answer at quarterback ever since Joe Namath’s prime ended about 50 years ago.

He's just trying to get the kid to take it all one step at a time.

And the first step, as the coach said, was "rough." Last year, Wilson completed just 55.6 percent of his passes for 2,334 yards with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 13 starts while leading one of the worst offenses in the game. No one blamed him. No one called him a bust. But the growth and improvement wasn’t always easy to see.

This year, everyone needs to see it because time runs out quickly on franchise quarterbacks in the modern NFL. Maybe Wilson doesn’t have to be Brady when the season opens against the Baltimore Ravens at the Meadowlands on Sept. 11, but there surely needs to be signs that he’s taken another big step on his way.

That’s what’s supposed to happen this year, with Wilson in Year 2 of the Mike LaFleur offense. He’s supposed to be more confident, decisive, and sure of what to do with the ball. He’s supposed to be better. And that’s supposed to be crystal clear.

"Obviously he’s going to ride the roller coaster of ups and downs as he continues to grow and master the offense," Saleh said. "But he looks good. It’s been a really productive offseason."

That’s great, but now he needs to have a really productive regular season, too. No, he doesn’t have to be Tom Brady right out of the gate. But he at least needs to prove that he’s well on his way.