Another former BYU quarterback thinks Zach Wilson to the Jets is a lock at No. 2.
Hall of Famer Steve Young told ESPN’s Rich Cimini on the “Flight Deck” podcast that he believes Wilson will become a Jet on Thursday night. That part isn’t that shocking. People have connected Wilson to the Jets for weeks. What was surprising, though, is that Young said the Jets have turned the corner as an organization and actually insinuated New York would be a good place for Wilson to play.
“Look, I mean, if you asked me a year ago the bottom five places for a quarterback in the NFL, I would’ve picked the Jets as one of them,” Young said. “But there have been significant changes.”
A lot of that has to do with Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh, who Young credited with revamping the reputation of a franchise not known for developing quarterbacks. The Jets effectively squandered three young quarterbacks in the last decade – including two top-five picks – but Young thinks that pattern will end with Wilson.
“Every generation has a handful of guys that define the position,” Young said. “[Wilson]’s set up to be one of those. Now, can he go get it? Can he go do it? There are a lot of filters and a lot of hurdles and a lot of things you have to go through to get there, but I think he’s the No. 2 pick for the Jets because of what that looks like, because of his potential.”
Young already said the Jets “committed” to drafting Wilson earlier this month – Douglas avoided questions about the comments – and effectively doubled down on that assessment just 24 hours before the pick needs to be made.
“In the NFL draft, nothing is truly set until you put the name in,” Young said, “but short of some terrible review or something that comes out that changes the nature of what they’ve underwritten for Zach, it feels like there’s no question he’s their guy. They’ve had him locked in for quite a while.”
Young also praised Douglas for his preparation with this pick. From Young’s perspective, Douglas and the Jets did a lot of due diligence with Wilson before settling on him.
“Joe Douglas doesn’t play the fool. The man is very intent. He’s got rings on his fingers. He knows what he’s looking for,” Young said. “He knows this is kind of a defining moment for him. I think he’s done whatever he possibly can to vet this situation and it became pretty obvious to me that they’ve locked in on him.”
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