The NY Jets have no plans to bench Zach Wilson any time soon

Zach Wilson will remain the Jets quarterback

NY Jets, Zach Wilson
NY Jets, Zach Wilson | Dustin Satloff/GettyImages

Despite the team's obvious and persistent offensive struggles, the NY Jets reportedly have no plans to bench quarterback Zach Wilson at any point in the near future.

The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported on Saturday that the Jets are not planning to bench Wilson "barring a disaster." Russini insisted that the Jets believe Wilson "has the most upside of their quarterbacks."

It was also made clear that the Jets still hope to make the playoffs this season and have Aaron Rodgers return at some point. Until then, however, Wilson will be the team's starting quarterback.

This comes following weeks of pressure to make a change at the quarterback position. Following Wilson's poor performance on Monday Night Football this past week, many thought the Jets would begin to consider a change.

It seems as though that won't happen, however. Barring a complete meltdown from their third-year quarterback, the Jets will stick with Wilson.

The NY Jets will live and (most likely) die by Zach Wilson

While this report is no doubt discouraging, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The Jets have made it very clear where they stand with Zach Wilson.

They went into the season with him as their primary backup quarterback despite every metric pointing to Wilson being one of the worst QBs in modern NFL history. Aside from some brief flashes this season, it's been more of the same in 2023.

This isn't to put all of the Jets' offensive struggles on Wilson, of course. The injury-riddled offensive line is a mess. The team's wide receiver room is a disaster. The offensive coaching staff is doing him no favors, either.

Still, it's become difficult to ignore Wilson's persistent issues. It's very notable that every other quarterback the Jets have played since Wilson entered the league in 2021 has performed significantly better in the same system/offense. That can't be overlooked.

Despite this, the Jets are committed to Wilson. They believe he has a bigger upside than the likes of Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle. While they're certainly right about that, upside probably isn't what the Jets should be looking for right now.

They need a quarterback that can play competent, mistake-free football. They need a quarterback who doesn't exasperate the issues of everyone around him. Ultimately, they need someone better than Zach Wilson.

Perhaps Siemian or Boyle could be that upgrade. The Jets, however, don't intend on finding out.

They remain loyal to their former No. 2 overall pick despite the entire NFL world laughing in their faces every week. This Jets season will live or die by Zach Wilson.

Unfortunately, given what we've seen to this point, it's much more likely to be the latter.

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