The Denver Broncos acquired former New York Jets draft bust Zach Wilson this past offseason to bring in more depth at the quarterback position.
This came after Wilson bombed out during a three-year stint with the Jets. The idea was to hope that a change of scenery could do the former No. 2 pick well.
At least initially, reports were not good in this regard. Wilson apparently struggled during offseason activties and training camp, leading to the thought that he could be a roster casualty.
It did not happen.
Denver kept three quarterbacks with rookie Bo Nix being named the starter. Jarrett Stidham is currently QB2 with Wilson being third on the depth chart.
Despite falling behind the two, Wilson is apparently viewed in a positive light by Denver’s brass. In fact, general manager George Paton had this response when asked whether he believes the BYU product has an ability to be a starter in the NFL.
“No doubt. He has starter tools all over. It’s been pretty cool just watching him with really no expectations. He can just go out there and play football. He has all the traits. He has all the starting traits in the world. He’s still working through some things,” Paton said of Zach Wilson.
“You can see the good and the really good last week in the game. He can throw it as good as anyone in the league. I mentioned before, he’s smart and he’s a great kid. He has starter traits all over. I do think he will be a starter in this league.”
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Whether this quote was just to prop up Wilson publicly or something completely different, the youngster has not shown that he’s a starter-caliber quarterback in the NFL.
- Zach Wilson career stats: 57% completion, 6,293 yards, 23 TD, 25 INT
New York moved off the 25-year-old signal caller after a 2023 campaign in which he was benched multiple times. It came after Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury just snaps into the campaign.
As for the Broncos, they turned the page from a failed two-year experiment with Russell Wilson.