When discussing quarterback Zach Wilson’s struggles in a recent simulated game, Jets head coach Robert Saleh said that most rookies get worse before they get better because of how much they have to do to transition to the NFL game.
Wilson had more growing pains (and one bit of physical pain) Tuesday and Wednesday saw him try to squeeze a pass past linebacker C.J. Mosley, who got his hands on it but dropped the interception. After the practice was over, Wilson pointed to that as the kind of learning experience that he needs to have at this point in his career.
“I can’t be afraid to make mistakes, especially in practice. This isn’t a game. This is where I’m learning what I can get away with and what I can’t,” Wilson said, via DJ Bien-Amie II of the New York Daily News. “There’s times when maybe in a real game I probably wouldn’t throw that. But it’s times when I’m like, ‘Let me try right here and see what I can get away with.’ C.J. got a hand on the play so it’s like, ‘Okay well next time in that situation, that same look, I’m gonna check the ball down.’ And that’s what we practice for, to be able to play situations out like that.”
The lessons will keep coming for Wilson this year and showing that he doesn’t make the same mistakes consistently will be the clearest way to know that the learning process is moving in the right direction.