NY Jets: John Beck hire reinforces commitment to Zach Wilson

Inside of one week, the NY Jets have traded for a veteran quarterback in Joe Flacco to act as a mentor, hired a QB guru in John Beck to assist the team's signal-callers, and reconfigured their operation on game days by moving offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur upstairs in the booth to call plays. 

All of these proactive moves by the Jets brain trust paid instant dividends this past weekend in the team's 34-31 triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals. 

With veteran Joe Flacco hovering over his shoulders, Mike White stunned the NFL world, executing Mike LaFleur's offense to near perfection, throwing for over 400 yards, and scoring four times, with three touchdown passes and one reception for two points.

The Jets' moves may not have been made with him specifically in mind, but indirectly, it helped White excel in what could've been just a one-game cameo before Flacco took the reins on Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts.

The NY Jets are doing everything they can to assist Zach Wilson

I wrote an article not too long ago about the impact of Greg Knapp's loss on the Jets' quarterbacks and the entire offense.

Knapp was a big proponent of Zach Wilson's, would be instrumental in his development, and was supposed to serve as the Jets passing game coordinator and aid Mike LaFleur in his first-time position. Knapp's tragic passing left a massive void on the Jets.

Weeks ago, I wrote about the team's options in course-correcting their offensive staff and, more importantly, helping a struggling Wilson and LaFleur in their development as a rookie quarterback and rookie offensive coordinator respectfully.

However, it seemed far-fetched to me at the time for the Jets to bring Zach Wilson's personal QB tutor, John Beck, onboard in the middle of the season.

It was a move that I felt that the Jets needed to make, especially if the team was genuine about pulling out all the stops to create an environment that would help Zach Wilson thrive. 

Back in April at the NFL Draft, Jets head coach Robert Saleh told Zach Wilson that the team was going to lift him up and not the other way around. Judging by the team's moves in the last week, the Jets' actions are living up to Robert Saleh's words.

The Jets gave up a late-round draft pick in 2022 to reacquire the veteran Flacco. The move was made with the knowledge that Wilson wasn't down for a long time due to the knee injury that he suffered against the New England Patriots in Week 7.

As much as the veteran Flacco has a desire to get on the field and play, he knows — and more importantly the Jets organization realizes — that Flacco was brought in to mentor Wilson and help him get a grasp of playing in the NFL and in a system that Flacco is familiar with.

Wilson having Flacco on the sidelines, during practices, and in the meeting room was the goal of general manager Joe Douglas and the Jets staff, not Flacco playing a game or two. 

The next step was convincing John Beck, Wilson's personal QB coach, to join the Jets as a de-facto consultant. Beck would help Wilson by constantly being in his ear and head every week. But Beck's arrival made LaFleur's presence on the sidelines unnecessary.

The move to bring Beck on board enabled Mike LaFleur to have an overview of the offense and call plays from upstairs. Wilson, who preferred having LaFleur on the sidelines, does not need him there anymore with Beck on the scene.

Ironically enough, this past Sunday, Wilson was up in the booth with LaFleur. At the same time, Beck assisted White on the sidelines to one of the most outstanding one-game performances by a Jets quarterback.

Are there too many cooks in the Jets' kitchen? With so many voices in their quarterback room, the team has a lot of voices assisting their quarterbacks.

Not including veteran QB Josh Johnson, the Jets have LaFleur, Beck, Matt Cavanaugh, and Rob Calabrese, all helping the team's quarterbacks. I'm not sure if Chad Pennington is going to pay a visit in the future, but the Jets certainly have created a multi-layered support system for their quarterbacks.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is that John Beck and Joe Flacco were brought in with the sole purpose of not failing Zach Wilson. The same way the team failed Sam Darnold.

You have to credit the Jets leadership for pulling out all the stops in midstream of their season to try and get things set on the right course for their franchise quarterback.