NY Jets: Winners and losers from the 2021 preseason

On Saturday, August 28th, the NY Jets finished their preseason in style, completing a comeback against the Philadelphia Eagles that saw the game end in a 31-31 tie. 

The Jets looked great early, then fell behind, brought it within one point, and then let the game slip away. Or so they thought — until James Morgan hit Kenny Yeboah on a Hail Mary to set up Josh Adams’ game-tying two-point conversion. 

In a way, the Jets final game before the regular season embodied the past month for the team. Full of ups and downs, but ultimately providing hope for the future. 

That being said, here are the biggest winners and losers from the 2021 NY Jets preseason.

Winner: Zach Wilson, QB, NY Jets

Could this have been any more obvious? Taken with the second overall pick in this year’s draft, BYU’s Zach Wilson came to the Big Apple with high expectations. After all, he hopes to be the franchise quarterback the team has been searching decades for. 

After a slow start to camp where Wilson struggled at times, the media capital of the world began to panic. That was until Wilson took the field at MetLife for the first time.

In his preseason debut, Wilson had a solid performance in the Jets' 12-7 win over the New York Giants. The rookie went 6-for-9 passing, throwing for 63 yards. He was only sacked once too.

His solid in-game performance put a pause on his so-so camp until Wilson went off against the Green Bay Packers a week later. In their 23-14 victory, Wilson played the first half, completing 9-of-11 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

Simply put, Wilson picked apart the Packers' defense.

Even though he did not play in the wild preseason finale, Wilson walks away as a winner. He executes offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s offense beautifully and is ready to take on his predecessor, Sam Darnold, in Week 1.