New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson will miss at least the first three games with a knee injury, coach Robert Saleh confirmed Wednesday.
His earliest return would be the Week 4 game at Pittsburgh on Oct. 2.
Veteran Joe Flacco will pilot the Jets in his absence, including Sunday’s season opener against his former team as the Baltimore Ravens visit East Rutherford, N.J.
There had been a glimmer of hope after Wilson went through a workout on Monday morning to test his surgically-repaired right knee.
However, Saleh said Wednesday’s decision was based on “everything we gathered over the last couple of days.”
“We are going to make sure that both mind and body are 110 percent, make sure that we do right by him,” Saleh said. “And we feel like, from talking to the doctors and everyone, it’s going to be that Pittsburgh week.”
Wilson, 23, had arthroscopic surgery on Aug. 16 after sustaining a meniscus tear and a bone bruise on a non-contact injury in the Aug. 12 preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Wilson, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft, missed time last season with a torn PCL in the same knee. He was 3-10 as a starter with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Flacco, 37, won 96 regular season games and a Super Bowl championship over 11 seasons with the Ravens (2008-18). He passed for 338 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in two games last season with the Jets.
–Field Level Media