Just when it looked like things couldn't get any worse for Zach Wilson and the NY Jets, new reports have surfaced that make it sound like the recently benched quarterback is now being insubordinate and reluctant to play in the team's five remaining games down the stretch.
The Jets sound ready to turn back to Wilson after the Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian experiments failed, but Wilson is reportedly concerned about the injury risk. Wilson reportedly needed a stern talking-to from Aaron Rodgers before he was convinced enough to drop the act and get out on the field.
Wilson set himself to be the main character of NFL Twitter in the last day or so, with even those who have no connection to the Jets once again getting some licks in. Local radio host and former Giants great Tiki Barber went after Wilson as well, ripping his indifference to playing in the NFL.
“If you’re gonna tell your team — I don’t care how they treated you — if you’re gonna tell the team that employs you, and is trying to give you another opportunity, ‘No thanks,’ you have sacrificed your right to be in this league," Barber said on his WFAN midday radio show. Can anyone blame him?
Tiki Barber rips NY Jets' Zach Wilson's reluctance to play
There is no justification for Wilson being apprehensive. The defense has multiple Pro Bowlers who likely don't want to go out there and risk injury in a lost season, but they keep fighting on. Why should Wilson be allowed to skip out on games out of pure fear?
The Jets have already acquired yet another backup in case Wilson continues to disappoint, as they released Boyle and signed former Broncos and Rams quarterback Brett Rypien off the Seahawks' practice squad. Rypien, unsurprisingly, has past experience with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
Between Wilson already losing the locker room after last season's New England debacle and the Jets benching him on three separate occasions in the last two years, it seems just about impossible that he would return to New York for a fourth season.