NY Jets: 3 moves the team could make to help Zach Wilson

3. The NY Jets should consider bringing Chad Pennington back to aid Zach Wilson

Jets fans have already been calling for this scenario. They would love to see one of their former greats at the quarterback position, Chad Pennington, return home to help Zach Wilson's development.

The question is, would the now-retired Tennessee native consider accepting a full or even part-time position with the green and white? It wouldn't hurt to ask.  

Some people may scoff at the mention of Pennington as being a great Jets QB. It doesn't support the accepted narrative that the Jets haven't had a good quarterback since Joe Namath.

But the reality is that Chad Pennington, the former first-round pick of the Jets in 2000 out of Marshall University, was a success in the NFL.

At the time of his retirement, Pennington, a two-time Comeback Player of the Year, finished his career as the NFL's all-time leader in career completion percentage at 66.0 percent.

Pennington was a winner as a QB. He took four different teams to the playoffs, won the Jets' last division title, and won playoff games as the signal-caller for the green and white.

Injuries to his throwing shoulder ultimately derailed Pennington's career. Before that, he went toe-to-toe and beat the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, and other contemporaries at his position.

Pennington was the Jets' best quarterback since Pro Bowler and 1985 AFC Player of the Year Ken O'Brien.

I know that the media narrative is different. But trust me, kids, take my word for it. The Jets have had two first-round quarterbacks after Namath that both panned out as good NFL players.

During his playing days, the feeling was that Pennington, the son of a coach, would follow in his father's footsteps after his playing days were done. The ultimate teacher's pet looked like he was destined to be one of the game's best teachers one day.

And while Pennington has dabbled a bit on the coaching and mentor side, he's shied away from going on the football coaching grind permanently.

When it comes to play-action passing and having a complete understanding of timing and precision passing in a West Coast-based system, like Pennington had with the Jets under Paul Hackett, very few quarterbacks excelled as Pennington did.

Plus, very few know the tri-state area, as well as he does, and all the pressures that come along with being a quarterback in this enormous market.

Perhaps it's my Jets' fandom taking over my wisdom, or maybe it's a pipedream. Perhaps Chad Pennington and John Beck will never enter the coaching space.

But Zach Wilson needs all the support he can get. It's something he lost when Greg Knapp tragically passed away.

Most Jets fans thought or hoped that Wilson would take the NFL by storm and be this year's version of Justin Herbert. But after watching rookie QB's and their struggles this season, it's clear that Herbert is not only exceptional but the ultimate exception to the rule.

Zach Wilson's job is not to lift the NY Jets franchise up by himself. The organization is supposed to lift him up. That's what Robert Saleh told his rookie QB on draft night.

The Jets need to live up to those words.