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He admitted it might be for somebody else . . .
If Woody Johnson adds a veteran QB as he talked about after the season, what does that mean for the future of Zach Wilson with the Jets?
After all, if they had signed a guy like 31-year-old Derek Carr, he could’ve been the team’s QB for perhaps 3-4 years, so where does that leave Wilson, who is under contract for two more years? The team can pick up his fifth-year option next year, but if they sign a veteran, let’s say in his early 30’s, why would you pick up an option, which will likely be over $20 million at that point?
So Robert Saleh was asked this question on Friday during a Zoom press conference with reporters and admitted the Jets might be helping Wilson get better for another team.
“The focus is to just help him get better, as best as he can, and if his best gets to be showcased here as a New York Jet, awesome, if not, it’s still awesome because all we want is what’s best for him and his development,” Saleh said.
So this project to fix Wilson could end up benefitting another team.
But if the Jets are able to trade for Aaron Rodgers, then it’s more likely that the project to fix Wilson, could benefit the Jets down the road.
Because reading the tea leaves, you get the sense Rodgers will likely only play a year or two more.
So if the Jets get Rodgers, they can work on a Wilson re-boot, with the hope of him re-emerging in a year or two.
So this could go a couple of different ways based on what veteran QB the Jets acquire.
“Two years from now, I don’t know what that means, I just know our focus is to try to help him get as best as he can,” Saleh said.
As for Carr, you just get the sense the Saints were always his preferred destination.
Talking to long-time Saints beat writer Mike Triplett on the radio on Saturday, you got the sense that New Orleans was where he would end up.
Carr has a strong relationship with Saints coach Dennis Allen, who was his first NFL coach, with the then Oakland Raiders.
Thr market might also fit his personality better than New York/New Jersey.
Triplett said that talking to Saints officials they feel like this is a great time to try to take advantage of a week NFC South. Teams like Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Carolina, all have major question marks, including at a QB.
Triplett also talked about the Saints’ offensive line as potentially outstanding with four first-round picks and one second-round pick, set to start next year.
The Saints just needed to clear some cap space to get a deal done with Carr, and did some work on that, restructuring the contracts of LB Demario Davis and TE Taysom Hill creating $12.7 million in 2023 cap space.
So while the Saints were clearly Carr’s preferred destination, he really wanted to create a bidding war over the last few days to up his asking price. It’s possible he was using the Jets for that purpose, you never know. An advocate for the agent in the media said over the weekend that Carr was slightly leaning toward the Jets. I could be wrong, but to me, that was the agent trying to get the Saints to up the ante. This same advocate made it seem like he was leaning toward the Saints last week.
Carolina wasn’t going to help with a bidding war, because while they had an interest in Carr, they have no intention of breaking the bank on a QB with a 63-79 lifetime record.
So what the Jets’ pursuit of a veteran QB means for Wilson, depends on who the veteran QB ends up being.
March 6, 2023
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