As we enter the 2026 NFL season, I’m one of the few residents still living on Zach Wilson Island.
I still believe he can become a quality NFL starter before his career is over.
Sure, most of the properties surrounding mine on Zach Wilson Island have long since been abandoned and the decaying tiki huts are now filled with feral iguanas, but that doesn't deter me. Shortsighted NFL fans may have relegated Zach to a full-time clipboard holder on the sidelines, but I have a firm belief he can be so much more than that. Here’s why:
Zach Wilson was great at BYU
Now in my fifth decade rooting for the BYU Cougars, I have seen a lot of good quarterback play in Provo, and I’ve seen some great quarterback play.
Zach Wilson was among the great ones.
BYU truly is Quarterback U, and those of us who cheer for the Cougars know great quarterbacks when we see them. I watched Jim McMahon, Steve Young, and Robbie Boscoe in my childhood, Ty Detmer in my teenage years, and Steve Sarkisian while I was a BYU student. Since then guys like John Beck, Max Hall and Taysom Hill.
After the Zach Wilson experience from 2018 through 2020, we've also seen NFL players like Jaren Hall and Kedon Slovis suit up for the Cougars.
In Provo, we know what separates good quarterback play from great quarterback play, and Zach Wilson was great. At BYU he threw for 7,652 yards with 56 touchdowns against just 15 interceptions. He completed 67.6% of his passes and could make every throw in the playbook. He was also quietly effective as a runner, rushing for 642 yards and 15 touchdowns.
During his time at BYU, Zach Wilson displayed the mindset, skill set, and tool set to succeed in the NFL.
And then he got drafted by the New York Jets.
The New York Jets derailed Zach Wilson's early career
When the Jets drafted Zach Wilson No. 2 overall, it was the worst destination for any 21-year-old rookie.
The franchise had been a dumpster fire for years and was coming off a dreadful 2-14 season. The Jets had just fired coach Adam Gase and replaced him with defensive-minded Robert Saleh. Offensive coordinator Mike LeFleur was new as well and installing a new offensive scheme.
The offensive line was shoddy and there were few offensive weapons. Fellow rookie Elijah Moore led the team with 538 receiving yards during Wilson's 2021 rookie campaign followed by Corey Davis (492 yards) and Keelan Cole (449).
Zach Wilson spent most of his 2021 rookie season scrambling for his life against constant pressure, trying to force the ball to receivers who simply weren't open.
In 2022 and 2023 Wilson was an on-again, off-again starter for the Jets and a regular punching bag from a toxic fan base. The Jets went a respectable 9-11 in Zach's starts and 5-9 behind his replacements. Offensive coordinator Mike LeFleur and the Jets "parted ways" after the 2022 season.
By that point, Zach was shellshocked. The game looked too fast for him. He held the ball too long. He took too many sacks. The confidence and swagger he had at BYU were gone. He was a shell of himself.
In 2023 the Jets brought in future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers with the goal of moving Wilson to the bench to learn from the veteran. The Jets nearly got Rodgers killed and he was lost for the 2023 season with a season-ending injury on a sack after attempting just one pass on the season. Zach was then thrust into starting duties again.
And yet, he was still only 24 years old when the Jets traded him to the Denver Broncos after the 2023 season. A now healthy Aaron Rodgers took over the Jets offense in 2024 and the team went 5-12 with Rodgers piloting the offense.
And while we're still talking about the New York Jets, I'll just come right out and claim my bias here. I will always root against the Jets after what the organization and the team's fans did to Zach Wilson. After casting him aside after the 2023 season and Jets owner Woody Johnson stating the team was "just a quarterback away" from the playoffs, New York has gone 8-26 since.
Frankly, I would have been fine if the Jets had gone 0-34 over the last two season after what they did to Zach Wilson, and somehow they nearly did.
The hope for the late bloomer
The reason I still own property on Zach Wilson Island come down to three reasons: His former greatness, his NFL experience, and his age.
Remember, Zach Wilson only recently turned 27 and has five NFL seasons under his belt. After experiencing the dumpster fire that was the New York Jets he has spent a season under Sean Payton with the Denver Broncos. Last year he was with Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins. This year he's learning under Kellen Moore with the New Orleans Saints.
GIving Zach Wilson a couple of seasons to shake off the New York stink and reset is a positive.
At 27 years old, Zach Wilson is just a couple of months older than the Saints' second-year starting quarterback Tyler Shough. Wilson is just over a year older than New Orleans' other "young" quarterback, Spencer Rattler.
At his still "young enough" age, Zach Wilson can still have at least a solid decade of professional football ahead of him, and it's not unprecedented for NFL quarterback to finally succeed in their late twenties or early thirties.
Former Jets quarterback Geno Smith, much like Zach Wilson, failed early for New York in 2013 and 2014 then toiled in obscurity until finally winning a starting job in 2022, his age-32 season, and making the Pro Bowl. Another former failed Jets quarterback, Sam Darnold, struggled in New York for three seasons going 13-25 as a starter from 2018-2020, bounced around the NFL for three seasons, then finally re-claimed a starting role with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024, his age-27 season. Darnold has now made two consecutive Pro Bowls.
And any list of late-blooming quarterbacks on a BYU site is contractually obligated to mention Steve Young. After floundering with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1985 and 1986, going 3-16 as a starter, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in 1987 and spent the next four seasons as Joe Montana's backup. Young didn't start for the 49ers until 1991, his age-30 season, and then over the next nine seasons put together a Hall of Fame career.
Given Zach Wilson's previous greatness at BYU, his now five years of NFL experience, and his still relatively young age at 27, he has all of the ingredients for a late bloomer.
Given all of this, I am still convinced Zach Wilson will at some point in the future become a solid starting NFL quarterback.
I'm still living on Zach Wilson Island, and you can, too.
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