Why he’s probably a better prospect

This former NFL scout thinks BYU QB Zach Wilson would be a good fit for the Jets with the second pick of the draft.

“When you look at the skill set of Zach Wilson, he fits beautifully into the Shanahan-offense they are going to run under Robert Saleh and (Mike) LaFleur; off-schedule, on-schedule, he’s outstanding in those areas,” said former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah, who worked with Joe Douglas in Baltimore. Jeremiah said this before the Jets traded Sam Darnold.

And these next two points are perhaps the most important ones about Wilson:

“He’s an accurate thrower; he gets quickly through his progressions,” Jeremiah said.

First off, accuracy is obviously huge in the NFL, which is why you often see some of the top quarterbacks around 65 percent in their completion percentage. For example, Aaron Rodgers career completion percentage is 65.05 percent, and last season, he completed 70.72 percent of his passes.

Darnold completed 59.8 percent of his passes during his three years with the Jets. It’s hard to consistently win with a QB that has such a low completion percentage. Why? Because that number means almost half the pass attempts are hitting the ground and it’s hard to sustain drives that way.

As for going through progressions well, it’s well-documented that this was something Darnold struggled with, often bird-dogging passes to his first read.

So if Jeremiah’s assessment is accurate, that Wilson “gets quickly through his progressions,” this makes him an upgrade over Darnold.

Now in fairness, it should be pointed out, that going through your progressions against Texas-San Antonio, Western Kentucky and Texas State is a little different than doing it against the New England Patriots. Let’s be honest, BYU didn’t have a very tough schedule last season.

So Jets GM Douglas must discern whether Wilson’s accuracy and progression scans will continue to be excellent on the NFL level against much more complicated, skillful defenses. That determination can be very tough to make.

Jeremiah clearly feels Douglas should pick Wilson at #2.

“To me, he’s clearly the 2nd best quarterback (behind Trevor Lawrence),” Jeremiah said. “[This gives] Joe Douglas  a chance to get his QB of the future. It makes a lot of sense. Wilson’s upside would be tough to pass up.”:

Jeremiah said one thing he likes about Wilson is how “effortless” the game seems to be to him.

“I go back and watch Zach Wilson, and some guys are just effortless,” said Jeremiah. “If there is a soundtrack, it’s ‘Easy like Sunday morning.’ He’s just so effortless and smooth.”

Based on all the things Jeremiah is saying here about Wilson, it’s fair to say he’s a better prospect than Darnold coming out of college, and Joe Douglas clearly agrees based on his actions early this week.

Keep in mind, I’m saying “prospect.” I have no idea how Wilson will turn out.

But remember, Darnold struggled going through his progressions in college, and clearly Wilson, not as much, so that is why Wilson has to considered a better “prospect” than Darnold.

The Jets can’t afford to have a one-read QB anymore. They need a full field-reader.

Having a one-read QB puts too much pressure on the play-caller to dial up the perfect first-read every time, and that is almost impossible to do.

April 8, 2021

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