Steve Young, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Zach Wilson. Not exactly a foursome you would group together when you think of quarterbacks. But they do all have one thing n common: they’ve all benched at some point in their careers.
Needless to say, the first three players on that list fared pretty well in their careers. Young and Warner are in the Hall of Fame and Brees should eventually join them in a few years.
So why are we even mentioning these great quarterbacks along with a quarterback like Wilson? Because Wilson revealed Tuesday he reached out to those quarterbacks, along with fellow BYU alum John Beck, for advice on dealing with being benched and how they handled that adversity.
“The biggest thing was there’s going to be these ups and downs in football and you always have to believe in yourself and rely on your support system and just understand that this is all just part of the process. Some of the biggest things I took from it was where you want to get, this is just going to help you get there faster — the bumps, the ups and downs, it’s tough, but eventually you’re able to make your way through it. Along the way, you’re able to learn a lot of really good lessons, and you’re almost able to be more aware as well.”
“I’ve been very close with Steve and John Beck, of course with the BYU connections. I reached out to Drew Brees and Kurt Warner, just guys I felt like had a lot of adversity in their careers or things they had to go through.”
Certainly, this isn’t to say Wilson is going to become a Hall of Fame quarterback like those three quarterbacks. But Wilson has at least shown more humility over these last few weeks since the benching and hasn’t been afraid to seek out advice. How much that advice will impact him will be worth watching, as well as whether he can improve his play on the field.
Wilson was named starter for Thursday night against the Jaguars as Mike White still has not yet been cleared for contact. This may be the biggest game of Wilson’s short career. If he can lead the Jets to a win over the Jaguars, on a short week and coming off a tough loss to the Lions, then maybe the Jets will keep him in the starting lineup. If not, the Jets could have no problem going back to White if he is cleared for contact.