Robert Saleh commits to Zach Wilson, says Jets plan to add another QB
Less than a quarter into the 2023 NFL regular season, the New York Jets had start working on contingency plans at quarterback. But head coach Robert Saleh made it very clear, despite speculation about adding a veteran quarterback to take over, Zach Wilson will be the guy.
Aaron Rodgers was injured after his fourth offensive play in his Jets debut on Monday night. An MRI revealed that the four-time league MVP suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. Wilson finished out the game for New York, leading the Jets to a 22-16 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills.
Tuesday, Saleh was asked about the quarterback situation moving forward. He made it clear that Wilson is the team’s leader.
“I want to make it very clear, Zach’s our quarterback,” Saleh said, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. “We have a lot of faith in Zach. We’re rolling with Zach and excited for him.”
Wilson ended Monday’s contest completing 14-of-21 passes for 140 yards with a touchdown and an interception. No, it’s not a great stat line, but the Jets got the win.
Saleh did say the team plans to add another quarterback to the roster. But that’s to provide more depth at the position and not challenge Wilson for the starting job.
“Under no circumstances is any of this a competition,” Saleh said. “This is Zach’s team and we’re rolling with Zach.”
Robert Saleh says Jets’ season not over
Because of Rodgers’ injury on Monday night, many have already written off the Jets for the remainder of the season. But Saleh had a message for the doubters.
“I don’t know why people are trying to put an obituary onto our team name,” Saleh said, per NBC Sports. “Aaron is an unbelievable piece to this whole thing, and we love him, but I think there’s 52 other guys in the locker room, plus the 16-practice squad guys who believe that we can do a hell of a lot of good things here.
“We’ve got a championship-caliber defense. We’ve got great skill guys on the offensive side of the ball. Our offensive line is continuing to gel and get better. We’re excited about our group. We’ve worked hard over the last couple of years with players, coaches, scouts, G.M., building a pretty cool organization, so there’s a lot of faith in the locker room on the things that we can still accomplish this year. While the outside world can go ahead and write whatever story they want to write, there’s still the true story being written in this building.”