Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Will Parkinson of Turn on the Jets talks about whether the Vikings should be afraid of Zach Wilson

Episode Date: June 21, 2022

Matthew Coller talks with Jets podcaster Will Parkinson about Zach Wilson's disaster rookie season and whether he's set to take a huge leap forward or whether he could be the next in a long list of Jets busts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. Just wanted to start the episode with a quick apology. I made an audio error with this episode and recorded it on my regular computer microphone as opposed to the microphone it's supposed to go into. So my voice is a little echoey, a little thin, and I'm sorry for that. But I still wanted to bring you this conversation because it's very very good with will parkinson who covers the new york jets for turn on the jets podcast so my apologies for a little bit less than our usual purple insider audio quality but i still think it's a really fun episode so enjoy podcast will parkinson a great follow on twitter by the way at will pa 11 what's up will

how are you i'm good man i'm good we're just talking a little bit off air about the heat in new york it's only 75 right now and nice and sunny so um contrary to popular belief you're actually in the warmer weather right now yeah well minnesotans know especially golfers how hot it gets in Minnesota. And I think we're going to reach 101 for the second time in two weeks. So, yeah, I do. I was doing an XM radio fantasy football, you know, whatever radio hit the other day. And they're like, well, stay warm up there in Minnesota.

I'm like, guys, summertime. It's pretty hot up here. But I think my dog is probably jealous of your weather. She does not like it when it's pretty hot up here. But I think my dog is probably jealous of your weather. She does not like it when it's this hot. Yeah, no, it's, you know, I'll be diving in the pool and going to the beach after we finish this up. You know, got to enjoy the day off a little bit. Okay, very good. Well, let's talk some football then. It's actually quarterback week on the show.

And I am so intrigued by the quarterback of the New York Jets that I needed a whole specific podcast dedicated to Zach Wilson. So what you don't know is that once upon a time, we had a thing called skull searching because in 2020, the Vikings start off one in five. And everybody thought tank season. Who are the Vikings going to draft a quarterback for next year now that didn't happen but Zach Wilson was the guy that I was tuning into BYU radio broadcasts for games that I couldn't hear just to see what they were saying about Zach Wilson I have the tweets to prove it um and yet last year was uh not not great so why don't we start out with what happened last year with Zach Wilson um why did it go so badly yeah um I would say a few different things one I think the Jets were in a weird spot right they built like well I guess we'll we'll phrase it as they attempted to build it up with Sam Donald initially um made some very

poor signings draft picks didn't work out. 2020 was obviously an abject disaster. Sam's third year, everything was supposed to be pointing up. And unfortunately, obviously had a bad year. The Jets were awful. Very easily could have gone 0-16, somehow beat the Rams and the Browns into the weird COVID season. So they go into 2021. They've got this whole brand new core.

They basically, every veteran on the roster is there on a prove it one year deal. Everybody else is a first or second year player. They were still like in that first or second year of a rebuild where the talent's getting better, but it's a lot of trial by fire. First year offensive coordinator, first year head coach. Zach is super talented but Cummins in comes in you know you get elijah moore misses all of camp pretty much well he played some but misses pretty much all of camp zach wilson the first three days misses the first three practices because of a um contract thing

with rookies where essentially it's called offset language it's like if the jets were to cut him in like year three he wanted would want to be able to get that money. And the Jets would say we don't want to pay him, whatever. So that was a whole disaster. Then, you know, Corey Davis misses. Like everything just felt like they never had their full offensive line. They, you know, some bumps and hiccups early on, some tough matchups. The Panthers defense was obviously a lot better than I think people thought. You know, right away, obviously, New England's defense was fantastic.

So on and so forth. Struggles that the Titans game happens. He is this great, you know, the first. Obviously, New England's defense was fantastic. So on and so forth. Struggles that the Titans game happens. He is this great, you know, the first half was actually pretty awful, which was the whole, like, funny part of that game was it was going terribly. It was the same old, same old. And then right before the first half ends, they finally have a he's a big throw off platform. And all of a sudden, like, lit it up the second half.

Then it goes right back into not great. All in all, you saw some flashes. Then he gets hurt against New England and then he misses a bunch of time. The Mike White game happens. Everyone's favorite underdog story last year. Obviously, tears up the Bengals. Zach comes back from the

injury. He doesn't have a turnover. I think he had one turnover. It was a fumble. He didn't have any interceptions pretty much much i think after week 12 or week 13 only six touchdowns in six or seven games so it's not like he was passing touchdowns it's not like he was lighting it up but it was just got better and then end of the year has the tampa bay game which obviously anytime you play the box of the super bowl champs and tom brady's playing when you go toe-to-toe with him you know generally speaking with receivers as much as I love Braxton Barrios when he's your number one option and a bunch of guys that are more you know bottom tier the NFL type you know players on any roster you know it

caught everyone's attention and so the arrow is pointing up towards the end of the year the Jets obviously you know addressed a bunch of stuff but small school kid you know if anyone watched BYU as you mentioned in 2020 i don't think zach got touched like ever like he had all the time in the world yes he was playing with not the best players either but he was playing against softer competition it just it felt like last year his head was spinning like especially against zone coverage he started to get better but against man it's like he didn't trust his guys they get open he would wait hold on to the ball for too long.

A lot of classic rookie mistakes. So lack of talent. Zach's head spinning. Made some pretty terrible decisions early on. Got better, but overall the rookie year was not great. If I'm being objective about it, I think there was a lot of obstacles, so I'm not worried yet, but I would not like to watch that year again. Yeah.

I'm sure that goes for many of your jets years um yeah going from san darnold to zach wilson and i could understand if uh jets fans were saying here we go again but the wilson situation's a little unique in my mind because i don't think he was a guy that really should have been playing in year one that should have been josh john Johnson's whole season, or there had to be a McCown available to give a few million bucks to let him play. I mean, right, Flacco would have been perfect. Flacco's definitely going to be like Bernie Kosar was back in the day, where he like, no way was he a cowboy, right?

Yeah, every year he joins a new team. Right, right. But Zach Wilson had all the earmarks of a guy that shouldn't play in similar fashion to Mahomes I'm not saying they're exactly comparable but there is some comparison there to played in a wide open type of system where he could just kind of run around and throw it to whoever wide open receivers all over the place I mean his arm talent was incredible in college but also it was he had plenty of time in the one game they beat him up they lost what was it against uh it was against coastal carolina yeah yeah yeah they

really they really played physical with him and they lost that game and uh you know i think that was kind of telling to like he's going to face pressure much quicker and he's going to have to be much more technical about his game and that just doesn't suit someone to walk right in the other part of it too and i've seen of course he's in the best shape of his life and that he's uh picked up 78 pounds of muscle or whatever but he was a pretty pretty slender when he came into the league and needed to beef up a little bit like had all the classic earmarks of that but it seemed like they really wanted to show him off to the fans so we're just going to throw him out there and whatever happens happens and if he works his way through that it'll be impressive but i don't think it was that helpful

for him to play last year yeah so the issue that was a big issue going to camp was they had no veteran backup right the backup was the michael heights of the world and things of you know that nature you know zach pretty much had the same amount of NFL experience as anybody else he was playing against. I think they wanted to – a lot of the staff's mentality from people I've talked to in the building are we wanted to see what we have in all these young guys. The Jets kind of had a freebie last year where they've been really bad

for a long time, but it's a brand-new staff, brand-new regime. They kind of cleared house. It's all their guys now. You even look at corner. The Jets started a fifth and a six-round pick, or it's multiple six-round picks, and it was all guys of like, these guys shouldn't play right away, but we're going to let them play right away just because we want to see if we have guys in that roster, test them out,

kind of get live reps. I agree Zach probably shouldn't have started it from day one. I think they wanted to be like, go figure it out. If you watch the tape of Zach Wilson's games versus what they put on even Joe Flacco or Mike White's plate, they gave Zach a much, like much harder, you know, playbook. They tried to, they basically gave him the, you know, the veteran, like you've been in this offense for 10 years and we're going to let it all

loose. So I do, it was concerning it, you know, in some senses, but at the same time, I think it was like, this is what bad in the NFL is going to feel like. Now we're going to give you more weapons. We're going to give, you know, you're going to beef up. He's up to, I think he's up to 15 pounds of muscle. He's up to 220. You can tell him the zip on the ball. He's got elite arm talent. There is no doubt about that. I know I had a tweet that, you know, about the Jets, you know, what the NFL bringing back the, the farthest throw competition. And I put Zach Wilson's name in there and everyone's like, Zach Wilson. And I'm like, dude, trust me. Like his issue is not his arm strength. You know, he, again, he's somebody that weirdly last year,

he actually threw the ball way better over the middle of the field, especially the end of the year. And in college, he was a big-time outside-the-numbers guy. He threw one of the prettiest corner outs I've ever seen. It's just like the ball. I don't know if anyone who watches Russell Wilson, too. It feels like the ball is in the air for an hour, and it's just such a catchable ball. I'm not going to get into Russell Wilson because I'm not a big Russell Wilson guy.

But Zach threw the ball much more confidently at the end of the year. If he can figure out the hard stuff for for him the easy off platform stuff similar to like Mahomes figured out how to do everything else and then was able to just use it that elite arm talent and run around and buy time and make throws nobody else can make so um similar for Zach once he starts to like conf like last year he could throw the prettiest 50 yard ball off you know running around like guy in his face and then swing pass or screen pass with one hop and it's like what is going on um it's the little things again i think the nfl moves really quickly as everyone knows it's not just the speed it's the speed of the players it's the speed of the game everything's

different so um i'm i've seen zach so far it's started to slow down um he still is you know learning but you would hope with more you know more experience from michael for their offensive coordinator more weapons around him um the better offensive line and also zach just being better in year two in terms of a mental capacity i would hope it's going to translate we'll see but um you know got to clean up it's got to clean up the stupid mistakes and i think you know obviously kirk cousins is like the definition of like you don't it's like you're not maybe going to see the highest of highs but the lowest of lows is not going to happen zach

is weight was way too much last year like oh wow that's an amazing throw like if i tweeted out there's a clip of two-minute Zach Wilson throws, and it's so annoying because I feel like I'm talking about Sam Darnold again. But there's a two-minute throws of, like, this is just as good as anybody in the NFL, that two minutes. The problem is that two minutes is, like, dude, there's five guys there. Like, what are you doing? So if we can eliminate at least half that and add a little bit more to the highlight tape, we might be in good shape.

Oh, I mean, if you could meld Kirk Cousins with Zach Wilson, I mean, you would really have something there. The Jets would probably be Super Bowl contenders based off of the quarterback alone. Well, something really blew my mind, and I've talked about it a bit on the show. When PFF put out its quarterback annual, and one of their statistics is first read. And so how did guys perform on their first read? But the thing that really took me aback was that quarterbacks on their first read. And so how did guys perform on their first read? But the thing that really took me aback was that quarterbacks on their first read are throwing it like two out of every three

passes. And even the guys who do a lot of off schedule stuff, it's still like 62% of the time they're doing first read. So that's the thing about Mahomes that he's going to get credit for all the wild throws, but 60, 70% of the time, the guy is still making the right first read throw. So if you have all of that high end on the crazy stuff on the off platform and the off schedule, whatever, but you can't execute a simple, you know, double slants or whatever, I mean, it's going to be a major problem for you. But my thing is, with Wilson, how would you know based on last year, even when you go back in history with rookies, unless somebody is Josh Rosen, where it's just

an atrocity from day one, there's nothing to really project. There's no stat that says, oh, if you graded this way or your rating was this, that in year two, you can't improve as a rookie. I mean, Jared Goff was about as horrible as you could get. And then by the next year, they're leading the number one offense. I mean, I think that that jump is just so significant that it's really hard to project. That's why for me, I've struggled with, you know, a, the question I get asked every single time I do a podcast, whether it's my own or somebody else's like, you know, stat line, I'm sure we'll probably get to this, but like what stat line would tell you, you know, he's the guy and he's the Jets

quarterback for the next decade, or they're probably looking for a quarterback or he's in a year three, like in a similar situation with Tua or Daniel Jones or Hertz or any of these guys that are like, fine, but we're not sure if they're the guy or not. Yeah, I just, I struggle with like, I comped him to a more athletic Matt Stafford coming out and he had pretty similar numbers to Matt Stafford in a similarly terrible situation. Now, if the Jets end up with Matt Stafford as their quarterback, that means they're going to have a guy for the next 10 years, which they've never had. And I know Matt Stafford's a very polarizing guy in terms of now that he's won, all of a sudden everyone thinks he's a top five guy. And if you liked him before, now you love him. And if you didn't like him before, you still think he's not very good. He's going to be a guy that turns the ball over, I think.

And that's fine. Mahomes, Josh Allen, Stafford, all these guys, they lead the league in interceptions. Look at the numbers last year. They threw a lot of picks. But you also have to have such a high ceiling in terms of what you can produce. Yeah, I just don't know how you would – if you liked Zach coming out and you still like him, you're going to point to there was not a lot around him.

Corey Davis and Elijah Moore, who are both competent, I think Elijah Moore's got a really high ceiling, played 10 games, but they barely played together. They were all – they kind of – when Zach was healthy and playing well, Elijah was hurt. When Elijah played well, Zach was hurt. Corey Davis is a very solid NFL number two. Struggled with drops last year. I think that comes with, you know, he got a big-time payday.

And sometimes guys come in a new situation and struggle. I know Connor Rogers kind of comped him to win the Jets on Eric Decker, and he was pretty average year one. And then they got Brandon Marshall, and they started to become this really good tandem. Now you add Garrett Wilson in, the tight ends, the running backs. There's no real excuse for him to not be good. I know they face a bit of a difficult schedule. They play in a good division, but the Patriots have not done any favors for themselves this year. Miami is probably one of the most top-heavy rosters in the NFL.

They've got star names, but the middle of that roster is not pretty. And as good as Buffalo is, the Jets actually play Buffalo weirdly, like pretty competitively, other than the one game this year where the Jets started Mike White and, you know, he looked pretty overwhelmed. The Jets played them really hard week 17, and the Jets had one of the weirder rosters, like Tariq Black and Jeff Smith and Denzel Mims. It was ugly. But I guess that's all to say, like,

I don't know how you would know with Zach coming out of year one. If you just think that he's not going to improve and that style of play doesn't work in the nfl i would argue that doesn't really make a lot of sense because every the reason part of the reason the jets drafted uh zach willison and people had him as better than trevor lawrence and there's serious questions about trevor lawrence as well as terms of arm strength and other things um i just like the jets just need to be conducive around him and try to, you know, try to elevate him so much that they can get away with, you know, he can throw one stupid interception a game,

knowing the other five or six big time throws are there. If you know, he's not going to be a big time throw guy, then that's not really why you drafted him. That's why like I go back and forth with like how, what's a good season for him. I want to see the yards per attempt. I want to see the adjusted completion percentage. I want to see those types of things much higher than they were.

I'm not so concerned about does he have 10 interceptions or 12 or 8. That, to me, doesn't move the needle. Does he have 12 touchdowns again, or does he have 31 touchdowns and the Jets are scoring a ton of points and they go 6 and 11 because they're not ready yet like there's a big difference for me there yeah the uh box score thing is super hard to work with anyway because you you have that blake bortles year where he had like 35 touchdowns and won four games and so this is is the thing with Wilson and the Jets. To me, the evaluation is, is the team better because they're putting more around him and they're

giving a system that at least in theory, that system is working in a lot of places around the NFL. And so if you can't operate it and win some games, even if your stat line isn't perfect, even if you make mistakes that young quarterbacks still make. But if you're winning some games, if you're getting over that hump and you're a competitive team, then you can go into that year three and think, all right, now we've got free agency money because we've got the rookie quarterback contract and we can continue to go forward with him.

But if you win four games again, there's no way it was good. Like there's just no way. No, they can't. They cannot. If they win four games, there there's no way it was good. There's just no way. No, they cannot. If they win four games, there's going to be serious issues. Because the Jets have done everything of the quote-unquote best way, the right way to do things, the right way to rebuild, the Ravens, Eagles, philosophy, obviously all the Jets and the Niners, all these teams that are stable organizations right now

that kind of consistently you feel like you're competitive. They blew it all up. They got rid of everything they started fresh the staff the gm and the head coach are aligned at the hip they changed the whole policy with the ownership where now robert saw reports to joe douglas joe douglas reports to woody johnson you've got the quarterback that came in with the head coach they they got their guy they've built through the trenches they're the second second most expensive offensive line. I apologize, defensive line. Fifth most expensive offensive line. All

these rookies, they invested at the skill positions, at corner, at receiver. There is very little excuse to not be a competitive football team. If they win four games, I'm probably on this show next year. You're on my show. We're talking about, are they going to draft CJ Stroud

or Bryce Young or Levis or any of these guys? Because look, the Bills, I know everyone looks at the Bills right now because they're the easy progression, but Josh Allen was not amazing year two, but he took a big enough leap that they said, okay, we can go all in with Stephon Diggs

and all in with all these offensive linemen and we're going to spend money. Josh Allen took that absurd year three leap. But I know they made the playoffs in year two. I know someone's going to be like, oh, we're still good. But if the Jets even resemble, to your point, we're one year away and we're one or two pieces, then the Tyree kill move that everyone wanted them to make, then it makes a lot of sense. It's like, okay, now are they the sexy, are they going to go

to the Super Bowl pick? Right now the Jets are the sexy, like, can they make the playoffs? You know, you're, you're a year away, but if Zach's good, now you feel good. And if he's bad, fortunately it's going to be like the hundredth time that the Jets fans have to start over at quarterback. Well, that's exactly what I mean. The bills example is I remember cause my dad's a bills fan. I grew up in Buffalo and I remember my dad after that season saying hey you know Josh Allen wasn't perfect this year and has his issues still but if you see the way that he competes and you see a lot of the flashes that you're looking for this is what's so hard is because back in the day they used to give quarterbacks all sorts of time year after year being horrible. And then some of them would just all of a sudden they would get it.

Like Terry Bradshaw, for example, is the number one overall pick and wasn't very good to start his career. And then all of a sudden it just clicked in. The team got to be great around him. I know I'm going like way, way back. But that used to happen all the way through, I think, the 90s. And then all of a sudden teams in recent years, especially with the salary cap, with the rookie contracts, basically it's like, and how fast people get fired. If you're not good by year two or year three,

we're just changing quarterbacks. And then teams that don't, and they stick with them, like Mitch Trubisky, they get everybody fired. So it's weird to think about a quarterback like him being in year two here, where I think in a reasonable world we would be like all right let's give it like four seasons and see what happens but this is not a reasonable world it's like it's over fast uh if this doesn't work out and the funny thing about that is so we talked about a lot here trading Kirk Cousins going the route that you're talking

about which I think has been proven to really work But the example that keeps coming up is the Jets. You need to solve this, Will, because that becomes the example every time I bring it up. Well, the Vikings should probably move on and reset their roster. But what about the Jets? I guess I wonder about your perspective on that, because I think more than anything, drafting Mark Sanchez,chez Sam Darnold and if it doesn't work out with Zach Wilson it's just bad luck like it's almost going against recent history where it seems like more first round picks are having success with supporting casts around them and are more prepared to play in the NFL than ever yeah so it's what it's interesting you brought up the example of letting guys say like I'm a diehard USC fan i admit to everyone always that like when i do my draft evaluations like i'm biased towards usc guys you know carson palmer

came in as one of the most talented like his one of the better arms you know elite arm elite college tape blah blah sat the entire rookie year chad pennington who the jets drafted in the first round similar small school guy they had four first round picks which was so cool and obviously set them up for a lot of success in the 2000s. You know, Chad Pennington didn't play in 2000, didn't play in 2001, came in 2002 and let the world on fire. And it's almost because, like, he was able to sit behind Vinny Testaverde and all these guys that, you know, were veterans

and he got to learn and actually understand the NFL. And, you know, it's weird how that stuff works. Patrick Mahomes sat and all these guys, whatever. But from a Jets perspective, it's weird how that stuff works. Patrick Mahomes sat and all these guys, whatever. But from a Jets perspective, it's weird because to your point, I was reading an article Jeremy Fowler wrote on like, you know, evaluating the rookie second year quarterbacks and who they have success in. And people I've talked to the same thing. It's like, it's the Jets.

We don't know. Right. Like it could go one or the other way. It's just if the Jets get this wrong, I'm more inclined to say this – like I'm curious what's going to happen. I don't think this is a roster that is not a seven- or eight-win roster. Like this roster very much is a good – like they're young, but I think like there's a lot of talent there,

especially up front on both sides of the ball, receiver, at corner. The Jets have – like Sauce Gardner is good. I mean, D.Jed is is a hell of a pairing um long term they're probably the team they're like a team similar to i guess where philly and all these teams are where this offseason or cleveland where it's like okay they're a veteran quarterback away and you know is it the kyler murray's of the world that don't get extended or i'm not saying lamar is getting trade i'm just saying if someone like that you know these guys don't get extended i would assume the jets are more interested in that than starting over again

for like a fifth time, technically in the last 10 years on quarterback. You had to be able to develop quarterbacks, right? Michael Floor is a very talented offensive mind. I know it's unfortunate what happened with Greg Knapp passing away before the season. I think that was another obstacle that I don't think can be overstated. Like he was a huge role in the Matt Ryan's of the world and all these different guys. And to pass away right before the season as your quarterback coach is tough.

Rob Calabrese is a guy that got offered the offensive coordinator job at Kentucky. He's the Jets quarterback coach. Like, they have all the pieces in place for this to work. And it's like if he can't get – they can't get it right. To your point, I was in favor of before the draft, why don't you trade Kirk Cousins and kind of go full tank mode? You have a young enough roster that's not like Justin Jefferson

or Dalvin Cook's going to be old in a year. But I also understand the notion of like you kind of like what you have. And, you know, I forget the saying. It's like whatever. It's like as much as it's nice the other side of the pillow or whatever the grass doesn't always greener, like, you know, you move on from Kirk Cousins and you draft the wrong guy. You draft Christian Ponder.

You're writing them back in the same spot. The Jets stuff is tough. It's just like eventually you have to develop a quarterback or you're never going to lose that stigma of same old Jets or whoever it is. The Browns had it forever, and I'd argue the Browns still kind of have it because they really developed Baker Mayfield? Not really.

But if you want to get out of this tag and I've tweeted about this all the time, people, fans get on me all the time. They're like, Oh, like why is everyone picking on us? I'm like,

dude, they're not picking on you there. It's the easy, like until you prove people wrong, people are going to keep saying the same thing. Like Charles Barkley is an amazing, that was an amazing basketball player. Unfortunately,

you never won a title. So people are always going to tell you, you never won a title, so people are always going to tell you you never won a title. It's the easy thing to pick on. And if you don't develop a quarterback, people are going to keep saying, Samuel Jets, you never even had a quarterback. Your best quarterback is veterans like Vinny and Fitzpatrick. Since Joe Namath, they're better quarterback seasons, which is disgusting.

But to answer your question, yes, they need to develop Zach because that stigma, again, they've got all these highly respected guys around the league. Douglas is a well-respected GM. He was their guy. And Salo is the hot coaching candidate. And LaFleur is a sought-after offensive coordinator. They've got all these guys that are the consensus number one receiver and consensus best this

and best that. So Zach's got to put it together because they cannot afford to be sitting at one and eight and going, are we really going to have to redo this thing a third time in five years? That would be really unfortunate for my – maybe it would be good for my downloads, but I'm not sure it would be good for my health. I don't know. At some point it's got to hurt the downloads that you keep drafting.

I know. How many times can i you know evaluate a quarterback and be wrong well yeah i mean we're all wrong that's the thing about evaluating the quarterbacks all the time and even that draft class you come out of the first year of the draft class going mac jones huh uh and that was on draft night that was my argument for the vikings picking draft or mac jones was we don't know because I like these other prospects better than him, too. But we have no idea. And what the Jets have run into is there was a lot of reasons to love Sam Darnold's arm talent. It just didn't work out like the turnovers carried over from college.

But with some guys, they don't. And then they become great. And so you kind of have to keep taking that swing where the Jets have sunk into is exactly where the Bills were for many years, where it was like J.P. Lossman and Trent Edwards, and you're trying all these different things. Tyrod Taylor, once upon a time, Bills fans were fighting about whether he was the guy or not. But the only way out is to draft that guy. And how is anyone supposed to know?

And usually drafting him high helps, but sometimes it doesn't. And you end up with somebody who doesn't work out. But I think that with this year, the reason I would lean toward Zach Wilson being much better is because of the supporting cast. And it seems like they've done a lot to help him. And I feel like as we go along, the more we go along, the more supporting casts make a difference simply because quarterbacks are developed better, are more physically gifted, and the gap between, when I was growing up and you,

the gap between the top five and the number 20 guy was so wildly insane that, you know know like the number 20 guy can't even play in the league and then there's other teams that just don't even don't even bother showing up on sunday now though it's like carson wentz like the 20th best quarterback in the league he was this close to an mvp a couple of years ago like that's how the league works now and i feel like part of that is there's more receivers guys guys are more prepared, and what you can put around them is more of a determining factor sometimes than even what the guy can do. Yeah, I mean, the Jets have, if we're going to count Corey Davis being a top five pick, in theory, the Jets have four guys in the last six years have been drafted in the top 40 receiver. Even as much as Denzel Mims has been a huge bust to this point,

he's their fifth or sixth receiver. Rapson Berrios just got paid this offseason. He's a really nice gadget player. He's really reliable. He's an all-pro returner. Garrett Wilson was most people's number one, if not number two receiver. He's a top 10 pick. Elijah Moore was pretty wild.

He had no business falling to the second round. I know people have comped Garrett Wilson and Justin Jeffersonerson i'm not going to do that and put that pressure on him just because as much as aesthetically they do look a lot alike i don't want everyone to like make a guy they do that with zach but they're like oh he could be the next rogers based on the way his throwing motion is like you're gonna set yourself up for disappointment if you do that um i hope i'm wrong but um you know they, they breeze all as a consensus, probably top back in this class. He was my top back. Michael Carter showed a lot of flashes, even at Tevin Coleman and Ty Johnson as your third or fourth running back. It's not nothing to sneeze at. They've invested two first round picks.

They have another former first round pick, you know, on their offensive line. Mekhi Becton's a very polarizing guy, but George Fant played well at left tackle, and Elijah Vera Tucker's probably one of the highest potentials of any guard in football. Lakin Tomlinson was a pro bowler last year. Connor McGovern, if you go by PFF's grading, is a top-10 center. I would lean more that he's maybe a top-15 or 16 center. Again, still a top half of the NFL center. Their defense has got a ton of investment

to show like everything is pointing in the direction of like defense should be better the coaching staff should be better everything around him should be better the jets are just in a situation where like it is make or break with zach which is unfortunate because i feel like a lot of these other guys on the roster that should be getting a lot of hype and talked about like a garrett wilson like it's really exciting to draft a receiver in the top 10 especially someone that's that as productive and as fun as Garrett Wilson is to watch and no one I know none of the fan base talks about it in the media because your quarterback's still an issue right and it's like why it's you know obviously people you know they're Vikings fans it's like you don't have

to focus on it you can Kirk Cousins can be a talking point all that stuff but you can actually love Justin Jefferson and love watching him because you're not worried about who's playing quarterback at the moment. You're kind of just enjoying what's going on. They've added a ton to this roster. They've ingested a top five pick in a corner. They paid pretty good money to another corner. They paid top dollar for his safety. They still have C.J. Mosley and Quinton Williams and Carl Lawson. They paid John Franklin Myers.

They drafted Jermaine Johnson. There's a lot of pieces there. Again, they're young. They're really, really, really young. There's very few veterans on this roster. They purposely only brought over that winning mentality, which again, I'm not sure how much

actually matters, but I'm sure it does to an extent, right? They brought over C.J. Uzama, who was this culture guy. Jordan Whitehead was this big-time culture guy in Tampa Bay. The list kind of goes on. Lincoln Tomlinson was an enforcer in San Francisco, especially apparently he has that – flips that switch from the nice Duke-educated guy to an absolute madman at guards. So they've got the talent to be – like if Zach's really good this year

and takes a big-time year two leap, like they will be competing for a wild-card spot. And if Zach's really bad, they will be picking the top six for like the 100th straight year, and it's going to be ugly. Unfortunately, that's just the unfortunate reality of it. So the Vikings Vikings schedule is interesting because they play the Jets on December 4th and they have the Lions next after that.

And right now, every Vikings fan who looked at that schedule when it came out said... Oh, going 2-0. W and W, which I totally understand, except for both of these teams, they have the signals of a team who takes a big step forward that's been down for quite a while. If I gave you my $100 and you had to bet on what the line will be when the Vikings play the Jets, will it be Vikings 10, minus 10?

Will it be a pick-up? Or will the Jets be favored? Like, what would you say today? I would say that any of the Jets, at that point in the season, will be Vikings minus three. I think they'll get the three points at home. Usually get four at home. But they'll probably get three at home.

I think if it was in New York, the Jets would be minus, like, one. And I think if it's in Minnesota, I think. Minnesota's not an easy place to play. Obviously, you know, if they're in a good spot, I think it's going to be even harder to play. Obviously, it's in Minnesota, I think. Minnesota's not an easy place to play. Obviously, you know, if they're in a good spot, I think it's going to be even harder to play. Obviously, it's inside now. It's not like a couple years ago when the Jets played and they played at University of Minnesota

and it was the most disgusting weather of all time. The Jerry's Wright game, right? Yeah, yeah. Sheldon Richardson chasing him down for 90 yards in overtime. That was fun. Yeah, no, I think, I think their Jets season is going to be very much determining on how the first six weeks really go.

They've opened up against Baltimore and it's a difficult game, but the Ravens have their entire roster that's brand new or coming off a major injury. Usually it takes week one's fluky. Then the Jets play the whole AFC North the first four games. Deshaun Watsonatson frankly i hope

is not playing because i there's a lot of other stuff obviously i don't want to get into on this podcast but they there should no reason you should be playing um the jets did beat the bangles last year with their backup quarterback in pittsburgh has got miss trubisky starting so if the jets start out two and two and they kind of can gain this momentum that vikings game will be like the vikings are six and five and the jets are four and seven or whatever it is and the Jets have a pretty easy path the end of the year there is also the possibility the Jets are two and ten and the Vikings are eight and three or whatever it is that's when that could be you know Vikings minus ten or something like that but I if I had to guess right now, I would say the Vikings are a field goal favorite.

I think the Jets kind of match up decently with them, but I also think it's – again, I don't know how good Sauce Gardner is going to be and Justin Jefferson is impossible to guard. They could have that game where Dalvin is running great, although at that point in the season, no one has any idea how many shoulder injuries dovin cook's gonna have so um yeah the jets again they're gonna have to establish being the dominant team up front and running the football i think they want to be very similar to what san francisco is where they they you know hit the crap out of the quarterback 30 times a

game and they run it down your throat and they get the ball in their playmakers hands and you know hope to kind of continue that way those teams are annoying to play again you mentioned the lines too i think both teams are their goal i think this year's obviously they want to make the playoffs but i think their goal would be especially for the lions and the jets as well some a team that no one wants to play every week like is an absolute grind to play against and like you beat They might be not a great team, but they're hard to beat. The Jets were not hard to beat last year. It felt like some weeks they were, but there was a lot of like, if you get up on them and you have to make sacks their 50 times,

it's going to get ugly. I think the goal this year is to be like, we're in a dogfight in the fourth quarter. Can we be a young team that comes out on top? Similar to what Cincinnati was last year, or the Lions who lost a bunch of heartbreakers and 66-yard field goals and stuff like that. It is one of my favorite things that we do, and what makes football great is, hey man, pick a game in December, like right now. I know, do the win-loss for week 18 when you have

no idea who's even going to be on the field. All right, but yet, and yet we're always interested in doing that the minute the schedule comes out.'s something that i really enjoy about the game uh okay i want you to do two quick things for me one i want you to rank the quarterbacks from that draft class with zach wilson from last year at the end of this year since we're making you predict ridiculous things and then i have a slight bit of jets trivia for you so how do you think that at the end of the year we view those five first round quarterbacks from uh last year's draft class i think we're gonna view justin field's fifth and it's not because it's all justin field's fault i think they have done everything the jets did with sam donald where they half-heartedly gave him

weapons but didn't really support him at all. The offensive line looks like a mess. The receiving core, I like Darnell Mooney. But I just think they're setting him up to fail, and it sucks. And it's like I hope it doesn't torpedo his career, and I hope he can overcome it because he's that talented. But I think we'll view him as fifth just because of, again, that Sam Darnold thing where, like, they don't support him,

and, you know, he's going to struggle and get hit a ton. I think we'll view Trey Lance fourth. I'm not sure with Trey. I just don't know. His college tapes were really fun, but I wasn't really asked to do – I mean, you think Zach Wilson didn't get touched. I mean, I played against North Dakota State in college, and we were good, and they smoked us.

So Carson Wentz threw the ball like three times so I I just don't know what you know what to expect with Trey so I'm going to put him fourth I'll put put Trevor third and I think it's because again like it's Jacksonville as much as the Jets are a mess Jacksonville is just I love Doug Peterson I think he's gonna be a huge uh advocate for you know Trevor Lawrence and make him better um Evan Ingram you know never is healthy and drops everything and the offense like Brandon Sheriff's a really good player and the Jets have basically admitted they pay Lincoln Tomlinson because he's on the field for 17 games a year and Brandon Sheriff's not so I'll go Trevor third I'll go Zach second um and I'll go Mac one but I'll just the caveat

is like I do think Trevor and Zach could easily surpass Mac I just think that New England's very Trevor third, I'll go Zach second. And I'll go Mac one, but I'll just – the caveat is, like, I do think Trevor and Zach could easily surpass Mac. I just think that New England's very stable. I'm worried about offensive coordinator and the talent around him. But until I see anybody else prove it, it's just, like, really hard for me to predict right now because Zach has every ability to be five and he's every ability to be one. Same with Trevor.

Same with Justin Fields. Same with Trey Lance. I think Mac will be in that one to three range for a while because he's just a stable guy. You know, he was a little more athletic than I thought we were. You know, I would have thought he was going to be last year. And, you know, I think again, it's New England until someone beats New England, it's hard to pick against them. Although I do think there'll be, I didn't think their struggle this year more than they have in years past yeah it's funny about that with someone like mac jones it's like he's already moved into the thing he was projected to be which was kind of and i don't

think he's exactly like kirk i think he gets rid of the ball a little quicker and things like that but steady like he that's instantly where he was but will he go anywhere else and i still want to say that Trevor Lawrence, since he's the most talented guy, now that he has a real coach, like when we talk about circumstances, that's not, that's not a tough circumstance. That's an F minus. That's your coach was a sociopath. Like, I don't know how to overcome that. So that one, that one,

I'm leaning a little toward him still being that top guy. I think it'd be disappointment for the Jags if Trevor's not one, to be honest. Like, I think, you know, we do this generational thing, which is obviously nonsense. But, like, if Trevor's this guy that he's supposed to be as a savior, like, you should be able to overcome. It's not like he – like, the difference is, like,

Zach and Trey were, like, playing in games where, like, they were the most talented people on the field every game. Like, Trey – I mean, Trevor Lawrence were the most talented people on the field every game. Trey Lance, I mean, Trevor Lawrence was in national championship games as a freshman. I think he lost, whatever, once in college and once from high school through a college or whatever it was and never in the regular season, all this stuff. He should be able to elevate.

They've invested quite a bit of money in picks there. So, to your point, Trevor should be one. I just, with him and Zach, they were really bad last year, and until all these guys show anything, it's just, Mac's the only one that looked good, so it's hard not to pick him. Okay, now here's your, it's quarterback week. The Jets have one of the most hilarious quarterback histories in the entire NFL. So, here's your quarterback trivia. Number one, two, and three in passing yards in Jets history are Joe Namath, Ken O'Brien, and Richard Todd. Those guys are from back in the day.

Numbers four through 10 all happened after 1993. Can you name numbers four through 10 in Jets passing yardage history? So go Ryan Fitzpatrick's's one one of them yep he is ninth overall ninth in jets history which right right there is hysterical yes sam darnold's and sam darnold's in there yep in uh sanchez uh mark sanchez is sixth by the way ryan fitzpatrick and sam darnold won the same number of games as a Jet. Oh, God. Yikes. Vinny is definitely in there. Vinny is fifth. Yeah, Vinny is fifth. Chad Pennington's got to be in there.

He is fourth. Yep, so you've gotten all of them except for two, the seventh and the tenth. Let's see. Geno Smith might be in there. Geno Smith is tenth. I did not think you were going to get that because I will spoil this one that Neil O'Donnell is not there, and that's one that I would have guessed. I was just going to guess Neil O'Donnell. Yeah.

You are missing a southpaw. Oh, Boomer? Yeah, Boomer is 7th. Let's go. 15 and 27 is a check after an illustrious career with the Bengals. Tough. I was shocked Geno was in there, but I somehow – I was like, it's got to be someone that's just terrible

and that somehow got in there. How about that Vinny year, though? 98's the most glorious year of all time. The Jets – this is not that anyone cares about this. That 99 Jets team was easily the best team in the NFL it wasn't close and Vinny tears his Achilles in the second or third quarter of week one the Jets played Tom Tupa a punter yes two touchdowns at quarterback and I think they benched him in that game right they benched him yeah they played well and they put they benched

him they put in was it Rick Meyer yeah they've Rick Meyer, and then they put Tom Thibault back in. And then the Jets started out, I think they were like 3-6 or 3-7. They played Ray Lucas out of Rutgers. And then they won like six games in a row. They finished the season 8-8. Parcells walks away. Belichick's supposed to take over. Quits the job, takes the Patriots job.

The Jets go with Al Groh. They, like, miss the playoffs again. Then they have a nice run with Herm Edwards. It was one of those, like, classic Jets where they're coming off. They should have beaten the Broncos in 98 in the title game. They're up 10-0. They go into 99, all these expectations. The team was still amazing.

It's just, you know, when you have a punter playing quarterback, it's not that easy. Bill Parcells is, I think, still the. It's just, you know, when you have a punter playing quarterback, it's not that easy. Bill Parcells is, I think, still the only Jets coach, or I'm pretty positive, to end his Jets tenure with a winning record, if I'm not mistaken. So I'm like, yeah, it's not great. Maybe I'm wrong. It's like it's something that's like some obscure stat or like whatever.

But, yeah, no, and then he tears his Achilles, and he came back, and he's like 50 years old and couldn't really do stuff again. But then Chad Pennington came in. Jets beat Peyton Manning in a playoff game 41-0. People don't remember that when they slandered Peyton as the GOAT. But, yeah, a lot of Jets history that goes through my head, unfortunately. I love it. I mean, the names on this list are so marvelous.

I mean, you have obviously the Favre here. Josh McCown got paid, if I remember, like $10 million to be the backup. To be the backup. names on this list are so marvelous i mean you have obviously the farve here uh josh mccown got paid if i remember like 10 million dollars to be oh yeah to be the backup he didn't play he was never gonna like he played in a plane because darnell got hurt but absolutely hysterical a personal hero frank reich having grown up in buffalo frank reich of course a legend uh brooks bollinger a viking legend is on this list as well. And another Viking legend, Bobby Brister. I mean, amazing.

So I was correct somewhat. So Al Groh and Sammy Ball technically have 500 or above winning percentages, but Parcells is the only one above 56%. And then the next best, Herm Edwards has the fourth best winning percentage in Jets history with a record of 39-41. You hate to see it. No, you really do. Even Rex,

obviously, is one of the more memorable Jets coaches, won 46-50. It got ugly in the end, unfortunately, with Rex. This is a point I've been making all offseason. Mike Zimmer was not a bad coach, folks. But Michael Dick. Is Kellen Mond the future?

No. Kellen Mond's not even the future number two, I think. Quincy Carter went 2-1 as a starter at 0-4. Yeah. We have one of the segments on the partner podcast, Badlands, which Joe Caprosa and Connor Rogers do a great job. They have they didn't almost Jets draft of like all these guys that were supposed to be Jets, whether it be a trade or I may steal this. Yeah, you should. It's it's very funny. Like there is a, you know, apparently the Jets were going to trade out for Tom Brady and they didn't.

And if Peyton missed. You know, Peyton kind of went back to school. The Jets had number one pick. Peyton went back to school, and he was supposed to come out. There's a lot of, like, absurd – you know, they ended up having Favre, and that was fun. They were 8-3, and then he tore his bicep and was atrocious for the last 76 games, and they lost at home to go into the playoffs.

Distracted by sideline reporters as well. Yeah. So let me just finish out the list because you said you had the day off and this is your call. Yeah, no, this is fun. No, this is fun. Jay Fiedler threw for 107 yards as a Jet. Mark Brunel somehow threw 16 Jet passes.

What? He played in Week 17 against the Bills in 2010. The Jets had this division. I mean, they had the playoffs wrapped up like they couldn't have improved their seed. They rested the starters. Joe McKnight had like 150 yards. One of the weirder Jets games of all time. I think they beat the Bills actually. It was weird. Jeff Blake threw nine passes as a Jet. Tim Tebow threw eight. And Josh Cribb somehow threw three passes as a New York Jet. This is

incredible. Cliff Kingsbury threw two passes as a Jet. What is this list? It's bad. There's some names on there that are just ugly. No, this should have been the game. Did this person throw a pass for the Jets? Braylon Edwards threw a pass for the New York Jets. That is disgusting. That is truly – I was doing a thing that was like,

did these guys you forgot play for the Jets? There was like Ed Reed was on the Jets for a year. Oh, yeah. Jason Taylor weirdly was on the Jets. LT, obviously, you know, infamous. Art Monk played a year on the Jets for a year. Jason Taylor, weirdly, was on the Jets. LT, obviously, you know, infamous. Art Monk played a year on the Jets. Ronnie Lott. Yeah, Art Monk. I remember Ronnie Lott, yeah.

Patrick Ramsey threw a pass. One pass for the New York Jets. And that's the end of the list. I got down to guys who threw one pass. That is... Patrick Ramsey? What a treasure. What a terrible NFL quarterback. And that's the end of the list. I got down to guys who threw one pass. That is – Patrick Rams? What a treasure. What a terrible NFL quarterback.

My childhood was an absolute mess. But also you can envision in some room they were like, should we just pick up Patrick Rams? Yeah, he sounds like a good idea. He wasn't at all. It was a very bad idea. No. That one pass was incomplete, if you were wondering.

Will, this was super fun. Will Parkinson on Twitter at WillPaw11 and the Turn on the Jets. You and Joe Caporoso. Awesome. I used to bring Joe on shows when I worked in Buffalo. So, big fan of Turn on the Jets and Jets quarterback history. This was really fun, man. Hopefully we can stop having – hopefully this –

if Zach has one big year, he'll probably catapult in the sixth all time somehow. I think the Jets have had – actually, I'm going to ask you a trivia question. I'll see if you get this. Okay. I asked Kyle Brandt this on my show. Three Jets receivers have had over 1,200 yards in the season, besides Don Maynard. We're taking Don Maynard out.

Okay. Who are the other three that have had 1,200 yards in the season? Three have had 1,200 yards in the season. In the history of the Jets. So, Keyshawn? No. Surprise. Not Keyshawn.

No. They did not throw him the damn ball. Is that what you're saying? He, I believe, finished with... His best season was 1,170 yards. How about...

It's actually only two. Don Maynard did it five times. There's only two guys. How about Rob Moore? No. These are both after 2001. Okay. Al Toon is out for this. Yes, he was close.

Lavernius Coles? Yes. Lavernius Coles, 1264 yards and 89 catches in 2002. It's a whole other podcast to go through guys who've caught a pass for the Jets. It's number one, and his stat line was 109 catches, 1,500 yards, and 14 touchdowns. You don't have that problem here. Big name in the media.

Yeah. Receiver thing, not a problem here. No, that's definitely one of the not Vikings issues. Thanks so much for your time, man. This was a lot of fun. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. We will definitely do it again. It doesn't have to be in December, but definitely in December. Yeah, we'll definitely do it in December.

Brandon Marshall has the Jets' best receiving season of all time. He followed up his season where he was the best Jets receiver ever with 700 yards and three touchdowns and was out of the NFL two years later. That was when he argued for Fitzpatrick to come back. Yeah, we could do a whole new docuseries on the 2016 Jets. The Jets got held hostage by Ryan Fitzpatrick, who choked the playoffs away and then promptly paid him to then draft Christian Hackenberg.

Week 17 against Rex, right? and then promptly paid him to then draft Christian Hackenberg. And he – Week 17 against Rex, right? Yep, and then never played an NFL snap. So Christian Hackenberg, hope you're doing terrible wherever you are. Appreciate your time. Is he playing baseball? Yeah, he's playing baseball. He burned out of the CFL and the XFL and the NFL Europe

and pretty much any semi-pro NFL league you could find. He was terrible at it as well. So great job, Mike McKagan. Awesome job. This is nice out in New York today. Yeah, I know. I know. I have to crack open a beer or wine after this.

Yeah, just reflect for a few minutes. Yeah, just sit there in silence. Thanks so much for all your time, Will. Appreciate it, man. Thanks so much for having me.