Zach Wilson will not play for the Jets against the Bengals this weekend, but there’s a chance he’ll be cleared to play in Week Four against the Steelers.
That leaves Joe Flacco at least one more game as the team’s starting quarterback and head coach Robert Saleh faced a hypothetical at his Wednesday press conference about Wilson returning to the lineup even if Flacco has a strong game while leading the team to their second straight win.
“No, Zach is the future of the organization, we all know that,” Saleh said. “As soon as the doctors clear him, we will get him on the field.”
The topic came up again later in the session and Saleh said he didn’t “want to be a broken record” before reiterating his position.
No one doubts that the Jets see the second overall pick of the 2021 draft as the future of their organization over the 37-year-old Flacco, but the issue of medical clearance offers the Jets an alternate route for Week Four if Flacco’s play makes it tough to pull him from the lineup. Wilson needing another week to get to 100 percent is plausible enough to buy a little more time before making any changes to a lineup that’s doing well.
The Bengals can make all of this a moot point on Sunday, but it will be interesting to see how the Jets handle everything if they get another win.
