SI: Zach Wilson is making progress

[T0mShane]

Zach Wilson Is Making Progress

It's only OTAs, but the Jets’ QB looks set up to improve in his second season.

CONOR ORR

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/05/27/new-york-jets-zach-wilson-second-year

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Zach Wilson straddled a line of red pads and faced quarterbacks coach Rob Calabrese, awaiting instruction on which way to shuffle his feet. Diagonally, about seven yards away on either side of the field, someone was waiting to catch a pass.

The drill is meant to have your brain and body processing on different levels and is a version of a workout utilized by some of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. Your feet are shuffling. Your head and your eyes are taking in the instructions (move left, move right) and the relationship between those two needs to coincide at a split second when you are told which direction to throw. While no drill is perfect, it simulates the idea that, in the NFL, nothing is going to look perfectly, your feet won’t always be set and all synapses must fire regardless at the first glimpse of pretty good. Wilson can, like most quarterbacks now, finish a throw with the now standard no-look flourish, beelining a pass over his left shoulder while keeping his eyes toward the receiver on the right-hand side. 

A few moments before his first OTA workout, Wilson’s coach, Robert Saleh, had admiringly called him “thick” before laughing at his word choice. He said that Wilson is in the right headspace. That he sounds like an NFL quarterback. That he acts like an NFL quarterback. That he hangs out with people conducive to making him a better NFL quarterback. Much has been made about the second-year quarterback’s offseason training regimen, which has him looking more like an NFL quarterback and less like a brand ambassador for Hollister. Understanding full well that this is a process (Saleh noted a few minutes earlier that Year 2 into Year 3 is when we often see the growth in a player), what the Jets have for now are these little moments. These drills. Padless, seven-on-seven football to gauge the status of a player who will be largely, but not singularly, responsible for buoying the team’s targeted rebuilding process.

A year ago, looking back on his first OTA practice as a rookie, Wilson had shown the moments that made him the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft. He can float out of the pocket and let loose a one-legged, sidearm-looking circus pass that lands beautifully in the arms of his wide receiver. You’ll remember the one to Keelan Cole in the Jets’ win over the Titans. But if you were to place an optometrist’s patch over your eye, obscuring all the numbers, and ask who was the high pick in the draft a few weeks before, the answer would have clearly been backup Mike White. In the moments when Wilson wasn’t asked to be spectacular, he was behind his backup in terms of hitting the short- and medium-range routes with consistent, leading accuracy. On a quick slant, the ball might have forced a receiver to turn backward and reach away from his momentum. Neither quarterback had much experience with the current set of wide receivers, but White was more efficient when the final step of the assigned drop back hit the turf, and the ball immediately discharged in the location it was supposed to.

Now, though, Wilson appears to have closed that gap. His first throw in a seven-on-seven drill fired the moment his back foot touched the ground on the third step of a three-step drop. The ball drilled Corey Davis right in the chest, just enough ahead of him that he could run without adjusting his stride. Still existing are those plays when Wilson will hit the fifth step in his drop, double pump-fake, slide out of the pocket and loft a ball to running back Michael Carter for a 30-ish yard gain. Wilson, to at least one untrained eye, seems to be getting into his drops faster. His footwork looks a little smoother and more economical.

It is not all perfect. Wilson uncorked a loftless fastball to a running back trying to execute a wheel route, which typically requires more touch. There were a handful of balls that landed behind wide receivers, though not nearly as frequently as this time in 2021 (again, we stress, this may be the first time the quarterback was even meeting the person, so take this comparison with a massive grain of salt). 

But if the opening drill is at all a metaphor for this process, the goal is to make the most of pretty good, which Wilson seems to have accomplished this offseason. His opportunities to be the kind of mobile, game-breaking quarterback we fawned over during the predraft process will exist, especially with an improved running game and an increased number of clean boot-action reps. His ability to be immediate and process will win New York more games. 

Toward the end of the drill, it seemed the Jets’ quarterbacks coach was forcing Wilson to react more and more quickly. Where one quarterback may have had several beats between a directional change, Wilson had to shuffle left, then right immediately, back left, then deliver the football. 

Baked into Saleh’s approach has been the player-friendly idea that this was the kind of undertaking that couldn’t be microwaved. Indeed, Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas had so much stabilization to create. Before their arrival, the Jets under Mike Maccagnan were crafted a bit like a beach house on stilts, susceptible to toppling under a moderate wave. So if this counts as a Wilson hype piece—that he seems incrementally more accurate and efficient—so be it. By design, we are not going to hear any clamoring statements or proclamations. We are going to have to look at the thing under a microscope. Right now, what we see looks better than the year before

[UntouchableCrew]

Encouraging article but it's obviously very early. But the idea that he's mastering the "easy" stuff is obviously very positive.

[RedBeardedSavage]

Bullish on Wilson this year, but this article is more crypto rug pull than Jets news.

Christ, Connor Orr had no story here.

Pick a drill, force a metaphor, remind us you have an 'untrained eye' and give me nothing of substance while trying to appear substantive.

[Barton]

So obvious that Wilson shouldnt have been our week 1 starter last year. Incompetence by the FO/coaching staff. 

[Jet Nut]

1 hour ago, Barton said:

So obvious that Wilson shouldnt have been our week 1 starter last year. Incompetence by the FO/coaching staff. 

Where or how exactly does he say this?  I think the story here is that its a growing process and hes growing.  

Not that he shouldnt have been the starter or that the FO/CS is incompetent.  The article doesnt come close to saying this.  Starting him was all about developing a QB, nothing more

[HawkeyeJet]

This next question is a completely honest question.  Not trolling, baiting etc etc.

For those who are/have been down or worried about Wilson, do you ever have fleeting moments where you think “maybe there is a real chance here with him”?

I’ll I get those feelings.  I was not a fan of Wilson prior to the draft.  I think I used the phrase “would not touch with a 10 foot pole”.  But as is my personality, as soon as he was a Jet, I tried to see the positive.  And for a lot of the year last year, there weren’t many positives.  That said, I do feel relatively hopeful about him, but that just may be my default setting.

[Embrace the Suck]

1 hour ago, T0mShane said:

So if this counts as a Wilson hype piece

The mind of a Jets fan.

[Spoot-Face]

[freestater]

2 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Now, though, Wilson appears to have closed that gap.

On Mike White. The gap. 

He's managed to close the gap between himself and .... Mike White. 

[T0mShane]

3 minutes ago, freestater said:

On Mike White. The gap. 

He's managed to close the gap between himself and .... Mike White. 

I think Connor Orr is trolling the Jets org in this piece, all the way through, top to bottom.

[The Crusher]

I can almost see my toes, progress! 

[playtowinthegame]

ICE COLD GREEN KOOL AID HERE! 

[Long Island Leprechaun]

Funny. A very modestly positive assessment of very early pre-season progress brings out the "green kool-aid" and "fluff piece" brigade. Some people really, really have an axe to grind, it seems. 

[Beerfish]

Having another play making RB, Another good Wr prospect and most important of all a group of TEs who are not sheer and utter jags will open up all areas of the play book. 

[Mogglez]

Zach Wilson is gone folks.

Zach Trillson has taken his place.

Braxton Berrios has trained him in the ways of the pro athlete like Sidious trained Anakin in the ways of the dark side.

[Jet_Engine1]

23 minutes ago, Mogglez said:

 

Man, Uzomah got initiated into The Bad Boys club with a QUICKNESS...

 

And the hottest girl in the pics got her hand on Zach. Good for him. 

[T0mShane]

16 minutes ago, Mogglez said:

Zach Wilson is gone folks.

Zach Trillson has taken his place.

Braxton Berrios has trained him in the ways of the pro athlete like Sidious trained Anakin in the ways of the dark side.

His legs are so jacked because he’s been doing Kegel’s non-stop.

[Mogglez]

4 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

His legs are so jacked because he’s been doing Kegel’s non-stop.

That jaw is chiseled for a reason too.

[slats]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

I think Connor Orr is trolling the Jets org in this piece, all the way through, top to bottom.

This would explain why you posted it. 

[Charlie Brown]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Zach Wilson Is Making Progress

It's only OTAs, but the Jets’ QB looks set up to improve in his second season.

CONOR ORR

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/05/27/new-york-jets-zach-wilson-second-year

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Zach Wilson straddled a line of red pads and faced quarterbacks coach Rob Calabrese, awaiting instruction on which way to shuffle his feet. Diagonally, about seven yards away on either side of the field, someone was waiting to catch a pass.

The drill is meant to have your brain and body processing on different levels and is a version of a workout utilized by some of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. Your feet are shuffling. Your head and your eyes are taking in the instructions (move left, move right) and the relationship between those two needs to coincide at a split second when you are told which direction to throw. While no drill is perfect, it simulates the idea that, in the NFL, nothing is going to look perfectly, your feet won’t always be set and all synapses must fire regardless at the first glimpse of pretty good. Wilson can, like most quarterbacks now, finish a throw with the now standard no-look flourish, beelining a pass over his left shoulder while keeping his eyes toward the receiver on the right-hand side. 

A few moments before his first OTA workout, Wilson’s coach, Robert Saleh, had admiringly called him “thick” before laughing at his word choice. He said that Wilson is in the right headspace. That he sounds like an NFL quarterback. That he acts like an NFL quarterback. That he hangs out with people conducive to making him a better NFL quarterback. Much has been made about the second-year quarterback’s offseason training regimen, which has him looking more like an NFL quarterback and less like a brand ambassador for Hollister. Understanding full well that this is a process (Saleh noted a few minutes earlier that Year 2 into Year 3 is when we often see the growth in a player), what the Jets have for now are these little moments. These drills. Padless, seven-on-seven football to gauge the status of a player who will be largely, but not singularly, responsible for buoying the team’s targeted rebuilding process.

A year ago, looking back on his first OTA practice as a rookie, Wilson had shown the moments that made him the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft. He can float out of the pocket and let loose a one-legged, sidearm-looking circus pass that lands beautifully in the arms of his wide receiver. You’ll remember the one to Keelan Cole in the Jets’ win over the Titans. But if you were to place an optometrist’s patch over your eye, obscuring all the numbers, and ask who was the high pick in the draft a few weeks before, the answer would have clearly been backup Mike White. In the moments when Wilson wasn’t asked to be spectacular, he was behind his backup in terms of hitting the short- and medium-range routes with consistent, leading accuracy. On a quick slant, the ball might have forced a receiver to turn backward and reach away from his momentum. Neither quarterback had much experience with the current set of wide receivers, but White was more efficient when the final step of the assigned drop back hit the turf, and the ball immediately discharged in the location it was supposed to.

Now, though, Wilson appears to have closed that gap. His first throw in a seven-on-seven drill fired the moment his back foot touched the ground on the third step of a three-step drop. The ball drilled Corey Davis right in the chest, just enough ahead of him that he could run without adjusting his stride. Still existing are those plays when Wilson will hit the fifth step in his drop, double pump-fake, slide out of the pocket and loft a ball to running back Michael Carter for a 30-ish yard gain. Wilson, to at least one untrained eye, seems to be getting into his drops faster. His footwork looks a little smoother and more economical.

It is not all perfect. Wilson uncorked a loftless fastball to a running back trying to execute a wheel route, which typically requires more touch. There were a handful of balls that landed behind wide receivers, though not nearly as frequently as this time in 2021 (again, we stress, this may be the first time the quarterback was even meeting the person, so take this comparison with a massive grain of salt). 

But if the opening drill is at all a metaphor for this process, the goal is to make the most of pretty good, which Wilson seems to have accomplished this offseason. His opportunities to be the kind of mobile, game-breaking quarterback we fawned over during the predraft process will exist, especially with an improved running game and an increased number of clean boot-action reps. His ability to be immediate and process will win New York more games. 

Toward the end of the drill, it seemed the Jets’ quarterbacks coach was forcing Wilson to react more and more quickly. Where one quarterback may have had several beats between a directional change, Wilson had to shuffle left, then right immediately, back left, then deliver the football. 

Baked into Saleh’s approach has been the player-friendly idea that this was the kind of undertaking that couldn’t be microwaved. Indeed, Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas had so much stabilization to create. Before their arrival, the Jets under Mike Maccagnan were crafted a bit like a beach house on stilts, susceptible to toppling under a moderate wave. So if this counts as a Wilson hype piece—that he seems incrementally more accurate and efficient—so be it. By design, we are not going to hear any clamoring statements or proclamations. We are going to have to look at the thing under a microscope. Right now, what we see looks better than the year before

Considering that you hate Wilson =  ; I sincerely thank you for posting this article!

Faith Springs Eternal When You Are A Jets Fan!

Let's Go Jets!

[T0mShane]

54 minutes ago, Mogglez said:

That jaw is chiseled for a reason too.

Dude was living under that BYU campus chastity honor code for way too long.

[T0mShane]

11 minutes ago, Charlie Brown said:

Faith Springs Eternal When You Are A Jets Fan!

That, it does, Charlie Brown!

[T0mShane]

14 minutes ago, slats said:

This would explain why you posted it. 

How dare you

[Maynard13]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

I think Connor Orr is trolling the Jets org in this piece, all the way through, top to bottom.

And here I thought you were finally on board with Zachary.
 🕷 
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive,’

Shame  @T0mShane

[Spoot-Face]

1 hour ago, Mogglez said:

Zach Wilson is gone folks.

Zach Trillson has taken his place.

Braxton Berrios has trained him in the ways of the pro athlete like Sidious trained Anakin in the ways of the dark side.

Trillson?

[Spoot-Face]

52 minutes ago, Mogglez said:

That jaw is chiseled for a reason too.

Hanging out with Berrios all day every day, do you blame him?

 

 

 

Wait... what did you mean?

[Larz]

1 hour ago, Mogglez said:

Zach Wilson is gone folks.

Zach Trillson has taken his place.

Braxton Berrios has trained him in the ways of the pro athlete like Sidious trained Anakin in the ways of the dark side.

#brazzers

[munchmemory]

2 hours ago, T0mShane said:

His legs are so jacked because he’s been doing Kegel’s non-stop.

Nice job, Tom.  I did a kegel joke the other day and got nothing but crickets.

[Lupz27]

7 hours ago, T0mShane said:

A year ago, looking back on his first OTA practice as a rookie, Wilson had shown the moments that made him the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft. He can float out of the pocket and let loose a one-legged, sidearm-looking circus pass that lands beautifully in the arms of his wide receiver. You’ll remember the one to Keelan Cole in the Jets’ win over the Titans. But if you were to place an optometrist’s patch over your eye, obscuring all the numbers, and ask who was the high pick in the draft a few weeks before, the answer would have clearly been backup Mike White. In the moments when Wilson wasn’t asked to be spectacular, he was behind his backup in terms of hitting the short- and medium-range routes with consistent, leading accuracy. On a quick slant, the ball might have forced a receiver to turn backward and reach away from his momentum. Neither quarterback had much experience with the current set of wide receivers, but White was more efficient when the final step of the assigned drop back hit the turf, and the ball immediately discharged in the location it was supposed to.

This is clearly the only paragraph @T0mShane read.

[T0mShane]

7 minutes ago, munchmemory said:

Nice job, Tom.  I did a kegel joke the other day and got nothing but crickets.

Kegel jokes by themselves are ok, but Zach Wilson doing Kegels? Massive engagement.

[The Crusher]

3 hours ago, Mogglez said:

Zach Wilson is gone folks.

Zach Trillson has taken his place.

Braxton Berrios has trained him in the ways of the pro athlete like Sidious trained Anakin in the ways of the dark side.

@munchmemory Zach’s biggest fan, it’s inevitable. 

[munchmemory]

1 minute ago, The Crusher said:

@munchmemory Zach’s biggest fan, it’s inevitable. 

Some cuties in that shot for sure.  Nice looking women, too.

 

[T0mShane]

21 minutes ago, Lupz27 said:

This is clearly the only paragraph @T0mShane read.

This is how I knew Orr was trolling

[jetstream23]

4 hours ago, Mogglez said:

Zach Wilson is gone folks.

Zach Trillson has taken his place.

Braxton Berrios has trained him in the ways of the pro athlete like Sidious trained Anakin in the ways of the dark side.

 

It took years but we've finally upgraded our tight ends.

[Zachtomims47]

7 hours ago, HawkeyeJet said:

This next question is a completely honest question.  Not trolling, baiting etc etc.

For those who are/have been down or worried about Wilson, do you ever have fleeting moments where you think “maybe there is a real chance here with him”?

I’ll I get those feelings.  I was not a fan of Wilson prior to the draft.  I think I used the phrase “would not touch with a 10 foot pole”.  But as is my personality, as soon as he was a Jet, I tried to see the positive.  And for a lot of the year last year, there weren’t many positives.  That said, I do feel relatively hopeful about him, but that just may be my default setting.

I thought when we drafted Darnold, it was like oh sht, the Jets finally got lucky. We did it. It’s our time. 

Didn’t feel that way with Zach but my confidence this year is higher then it ever was with Sam because of well he’s set up right now.