It’s deja vu for the New York Jets. Zach Wilson has been demoted to the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart, just like this time last year. That is what head coach Robert Saleh told reporters Monday as the team will start Tim Boyle against the Dolphins Friday. Trevor Siemian will be brought up to the active roster and serve as the immediate backup to Boyle.
Saleh said all three quarterbacks will be active against the Dolphins. To clarify, the Jets will utilize the new rule regarding a third quarterback on gameday. Wilson will be inactive but will serve as the emergency third quarterback. Wilson will dress and can play if both Boyle and Siemian get hurt, but he will not count against the 48-man gameday roster.
Saleh said he wanted to “just give (Boyle) an opportunity. He is a different style of quarterback, so really it was just to give him an opportunity to see if we can do something with the offense.”
Boyle replaced Wilson in the third quarter of Sunday’s 32-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Boyle went 7/14 for 33 yards with an interception. Wilson finished 7/15 for 81 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Interestingly, this is the second year in a row the Jets are starting a new quarterback going into Week 12. Last year, it was Mike White against the Chicago Bears. This year, it’ll be Boyle, who played in Chicago last year, going against the Dolphins.
Saleh said Wilson is fine about the news. “He has come a long way from a year ago,” Saleh said. “I think we all agree obviously we wish it was better for him, we wish we all could have better for him. Like I have said, it is not a one person thing, but just to see if we could get something going, but he was good.”
There was no thought to releasing Wilson, Saleh noted. If the Jets were to release Wilson, they would eat about $15 million in dead money this year and $5.7 million in dead money for 2024. The Jets would lose about $5.4 million in 2023 cap space but gain about $5 million in 2024 cap space. Wilson is due a roster bonus of about $4.4 million by training camp and the Jets have to decide on his fifth-year option by May, an option they almost certainly will decline.
Saleh still had good things to say about Wilson and tried to emphasize that he doesn’t think Wilson has been a failure in the NFL.
“It is a 53-man roster, it’s an all 11 sport when you are looking at the offensive side of the ball and same with coaches,” Saleh said. “Have things gone the exact way we have been wanted them to? No. I wouldn’t look at it as a failure, I look at it as more of a series of unfortunate events. I stand strong on the belief that Zach is going to have a really good career in this League. He has got tremendous work ethic, he has gotten a lot better over the course of the last year. He definitely has the arm talent, he is only 24, he just turned 24. He has a positive outlook and he just needs to continue to focus on his game and find ways to get better and continue to learn about fronts and coverages and how to play the game a little bit faster. I still believe he is going to have a good career.”