Robert Saleh officially ends the coddling phase of Zach Wilson's career
Jets head coach Robert Saleh during the first half of an NFL game against the Patriots on Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. Credit: AP/Steven Senne
There is a lot a football coach has to teach a young NFL quarterback. Everything from footwork and release point to decision-making and defense-reading has to be brought up to the level of the league. It takes time — and patience — for those lessons to begin to manifest themselves in production and, ultimately, success.
But there are other parts of the job that also need to be addressed when a franchise commits itself to a player at the most important field position in the organization. In many ways, they are more important than the skills and techniques. Things such as poise, maturity and that fuzzy little line that separates haughty self-assurance from realistic self-criticism. The ability to lead adults when you yourself barely qualify as one from both a legal and emotional standpoint.
Robert Saleh has given Zach Wilson a wonderful gift: Accountability.
Three weeks after committing to Wilson as his quarterback for the rest of the season and less than 24 hours after saying making a change at the position was the “furthest thing” from his mind, Saleh said Monday that he is weighing a move to bench Wilson and play someone else.
Whether or not Saleh and the Jets follow through on it — Saleh said he would like to have that answer when the team reports to work on Wednesday morning — for the next day or so, Young Zachary will at least come to understand that what happened on Sunday is not acceptable.
The coddling phase of Wilson’s career is officially over.
It has nothing to do with his 77 passing yards or the offense’s 103 net yards (two in the second half) in the heartbreaking 10-3 loss that dropped the Jets from the cusp of first place in the AFC East to last place with an if-the-season-ended-today locker cleanout rather than a postseason opportunity.
OK, it has a little to do with that. But as Saleh pointed out, it isn’t just a quarterback issue that led to such a dreadful performance. And Mike White and Joe Flacco, the Jets’ other options, are not drastically better talents than Wilson.
But they are grownups. Professionals. They know the playbook and the politics of being a starting quarterback.
Wilson clearly does not.
It was one little word — “No” — that Wilson said (twice) that seems to have sparked this potential change of heart from Saleh.
Wilson was asked if he felt he and the offense had let down the defense, which had kept the Patriots out of the end zone, allowed only three points and is playing at a level Saleh described on Monday as “championship-quality.”
Had Wilson said the defense played well enough to deserve a win and that he and the offense wish they could have done more, he probably would be getting ready for his start against the Bears on Sunday. Instead, he was defiant. And it might cost him his job.
Apparently he never took Swordfalling 101 at BYU.
Fans and teammates will tolerate a lot of misdoings from their quarterbacks, especially inexperienced ones with bright futures. Fumbles, interceptions, errors caused by being overly aggressive, those things happen. They are part of what is generally termed “the process.”
What they cannot stand for is misplaced arrogance. That is the mortal sin of football excommunication.
All Wilson needed to do was be a little harsher on himself Sunday and the world probably would have been a little easier for him on Monday. He still would have been criticized and castigated for his play on the morning TV sports programs and call-in radio shows, but it would not have turned personal. It would not have impacted the locker room. It would not have become a crisis Saleh had to address.
Saleh, the one man who commands universal respect in the locker room, has always vouched for Wilson. That gave Wilson credibility with his teammates even when it was by extension and not necessarily earned.
After Sunday, though, Saleh would have forfeited a good deal of his unblemished and unquestioned stature had he blindly backed Wilson yet again. How could he look C.J. Mosley and Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams in the eye without at least reconsidering his posture on Wilson? He would have lost the team. He would have lost what still could be a special season.
Now he has to work on not losing Wilson.
That process began Monday night when he told the quarterbacks — and, subsequently, the rest of us — of his upcoming evaluations. When he became likely one of the first to speak hard truths to Wilson, when he humbled him with the presence of real doubt and disappointment, when he taught him something that feels more like a life lesson that goes beyond football.
There still may be a fine quarterback in the kid yet. For that to happen, he needs to absorb this episode and demonstrate growth as a player and as a person. He may even look back on it one day and thank Saleh for demonstrating what leadership and accountability look like.
Wilson may evolve into a quarterback who can lead a team. He may become a championship player. He may be the right man for the job.
At this point, though, he clearly is not the ripe man for the job.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
