NY Jets: Zach Wilson is a perfect fit for Mike LaFleur’s offense

NFL Draft rumors are officially upon us, and that often means the NY Jets will be mentioned numerous amount of times between now and April.

It isn’t a secret that the Jets are trending towards moving on from quarterback Sam Darnold when all is said and done. The soon-to-be fourth-year signal-caller out of USC has had more than a rough start to his NFL career since being drafted back in 2018.

It’s for the best of both parties to move on. With that, the Jets have an extremely important decision to make, that could likely affect the franchise’s future for a decade-plus.

One draft-eligible quarterback that has been mentioned among other possible options the Jets could seriously consider is BYU’s Zach Wilson. Wilson, 21, is notoriously known for his strong arm, quick-read style of play.

The NY Jets could target Zach Wilson in the 2021 NFL Draft

The BYU offense isn’t all that sophisticated, meaning Wilson’s first-read is usually open. The offense is shaped around Wilson’s ability to throw to the open man, and considering BYU’s rather weak competition, that isn’t much to ask for.

There are doubts, of course. Often, with every draft-eligible player coming out of college, there is cause for concern.

One worry regarding Wilson is his ability to progress through his reads while also evading an NFL-level pass-rush. This is generally where the Kyle Shanahan system comes into play.

With former San Francisco 49ers’ passing-game coordinator Mike LaFleur coming over to take upon the role of offensive coordinator, the Shanahan system will likely be implemented to make life easier on a featured quarterback.

In this case, Zach Wilson would be entering into a system that has been designed to take pressure off of the one player under-center.

The Shanahan system features plenty of college-style assimilation; RPO’s, shotgun, motion, etc. It wouldn’t only be a rather smooth transition for Wilson, it would be efficient.

Wilson’s ability to make plays off-schedule, run when he needs to, and throw to the open man is mainly all one needs to know about the skill set required to run this sort of offense.

Plenty of quarterbacks have been able to have success while running a West Coast system, Zach Wilson has the potential to be next.