As Aaron Rodgers went down with injury on Monday night during the New York Jets’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills, the conversation immediately went to who would step up in his place.
On the ESPN ManningCast feed of the game, Peyton Manning got taken aback to hear that, indeed, 2021 first-round pick Zach Wilson was still on the Jets’ roster as their backup quarterback.
Once Peyton Manning gets told by someone off-camera that Wilson is Rodgers’ backup, he looks stunned in disbelief that the former BYU quarterback is still with New York after losing the starting job.
“Wilson? Wilson still plays there?” Manning asks incredulously as his brother Eli Manning confirms the realization. “I didn’t know they had any other quarterback besides Aaron Rodgers.”
Peyton and Eli react to Aaron Rodgers' apparent injury. pic.twitter.com/sykQOyKjpk
— ESPN (@espn) September 12, 2023
On an evening with heavy emotions all around, it was actually pretty funny that Peyton Manning was so surprised to hear that a quarterback the Jets took literally two years ago was still with the team.
If the Jets decide to stick with him should Rodgers miss time, we’ll all be hearing a lot about Wilson in the days and weeks to come.
Feature image courtesy of ESPN.
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