2021 NFL Draft: Will Zach Wilson finally fix Jets QB issues?

With the second pick in the 2021 NFL draft, the New York Jets selected quarterback Zach Wilson from BYU. Will he finally be their answer at quarterback? 

Over the years, the New York Jets have invested a lot of capital in the quarterback position. Unfortunately, those investments haven’t really paid off.

Mark Sanchez was a bust and so too was Sam Darnold, who was recently traded to the Carolina Panthers. Darnold was traded to make room for Zach Wilson, the BYU football quarterback who the Jets hope will finally be their long-term answer at quarterback.

New York passed on other quarterbacks such as Trey Lance, Justin Fields, and Mac Jones, meaning Wilson’s career will always be compared with the others.

Wilson flew up draft boards after a dominating season for BYU football in 2020. He completed 73 percent of his throws to go along with 33 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Many view Wilson as having the strongest arm in the class and he’s drawn the most comparisons to Patrick Mahomes.

A lot of pundits view Trevor Lawrence as the safest pick in the draft, but Wilson has gained a lot of momentum in the last few months and the Jets obviously thought enough of him to start over at quarterback.

How’s the fit for Wilson

Turning around the Jets seems like a massive ordeal. The organization does have a new head coach and we saw with Cleveland how important a franchise quarterback is to a rebuild.

If the Jets are right on Wilson, they will likely be a playoff contender in short order and like the Browns, he could completely turn the franchise around in just a few years.

But the Jets have been known as a franchise where quarterbacks go to die. There have been some good players over the years, but the Jets haven’t had a real answer at quarterback since Joe Namath. Chad Pennington was probably the closest thing.

That’s why Wilson had to be the pick. Nowadays, you can’t win unless you have an elite quarterback and Wilson’s talent was simply too good for the Jets to pass up. He’s not only got an elite arm, but he has the athleticism to make things happen outside the pocket.

Now, we have to sit back and wait, because the success of the 2021 NFL draft, at least as far as the Jets are concerned, is reliant solely on the success of Wilson as their quarterback.