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When it comes to the Jets’ new regime, this guy knows from whence he speaks.
It’s pretty apparent that Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer has a very high-ranking source in the Jets’ front office.
You saw that leading up to the draft, and now you see it with this anecdote in his Monday notebook:
“Credit to Zach Wilson for saying the right things at minicamp. The new Jets quarterback was asked about starting and simply responded, ‘In this position, the coaches want to play the best player. That position has to be earned. I have to do what I’m supposed to do. That’ll take care of itself.’ And that’s a good, mature answer for a rookie. But the Jets are 100% preparing Wilson to start, and my expectation is the reps in the coming weeks will prove it. Overall, the team feels like it’s built a healthy situation for a young quarterback, adding Corey Davis in free agency, and three offensive players right after Wilson in the draft (Alijah Vera-Tucker, Elijah Moore and Michael Carter). And new OC Mike LaFleur’s system is pretty quarterback-friendly, and the depth chart indicates they aren’t going to be taking reps away from Wilson. All of which makes him just about as good a bet to start week one as his counterpart in Jacksonville.”
This might seem like a no-brainer to some that Wilson would start Week One, but if it shouldn’t be in you’re truly running a meritocracy, and if you follow the mantra that Wilson stated: “Coaches want to play the best player. That position has to be earned.”
Look, the San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears have made it clear they are taking it slow with first round quarterbacks, Trey Lance and Justin Fields. It doesn’t look like either one is going to start immediately.
Some might say, well those teams have veteran stop gaps with Jimmy Garoppolo (49ers) and Andy Dalton (Bears), so they have an option the Jets don’t have.
That is a lame excuse to start a rookie. Just because you don’t have an obvious choice to start until he’s ready, doesn’t make him ready faster. You can always find a stopgap. Even though the Green Bay Packers have made some mistakes in the handling of their QB situation over the last year, one thing they did right was making Tim Boyle the backup to Aaron Rodgers the entire 2020 season, and raw rookie first-round pick Jordan Love was inactive the entire season. A QB being ready has nothing to do with other QB’s in the room. One has nothing to do with the other. Hey, there is a very good chance that Wilson will be ready, but you should not anoint him.
Breer clearly as a pipeline to somebody very high up in the Jets front office, so it’s smart to listen to what he writes and says about the Jets.
And that is fine. Somebody in the front office clearly respects him because he’s a football guy, not a gossip columnist, like some others.
Look one thing we all need to understand is it’s often easier for an NFL executive to do business with one of these national insiders than beat-writers.
First of all, if beat-writers suspect that somebody in the front office is leaking stuff to one beat-writer, it could hurt their relationship with the other beat-writers, and impact their coverage of the team in a negative way. That isn’t the case with a national guy. Beat-writers have accepted that fact that national guys are going to get stuff beat-writers don’t, because they are often represented by the same firms, like CAA, that also reps GMs, coaches and player.
Plus, local beat-writers generally need to be more critical than national guys, who are generally looking for scoops, and not to bash people.
So when Breer writes, “The Jets are 100% preparing Wilson to start,” you can take it to the bank.
May 11, 2021
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