What does the Tim Boyle signing mean for Zach Wilson and the NY Jets?

The NY Jets may have publicly insisted that Zach Wilson was their QB2, but that didn't stop the team from signing veteran backup quarterback Tim Boyle on Thursday.

Boyle wasn't exactly in the upper echelon of backup quarterbacks available on the open market. He's started just three career games and has three touchdowns to go along with eight interceptions in the NFL.

But Boyle's "claim to fame" of sorts is that he has a close personal and working relationship with both Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Aaron Rodgers.

Boyle signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2018, and he'd spend the first three years of his career working alongside Rodgers and later Hackett. His ties to both individuals is why the Jets signed him.

That said, what does this mean for Wilson? What does it mean for the Jets' backup quarterback situation?

Tim Boyle and Zach Wilson will likely compete for the NY Jets' backup QB job

It never would have been wise to simply hand Wilson the backup quarterback job. After all, we're talking about a player who, through the first two seasons of his career, has statistically been one of the worst quarterbacks in modern NFL history.

That's not to say Wilson can't improve upon the player we've seen to this point, but it's encouraging to see the Jets bring in someone to compete with him, even if it's a bottom-tier backup QB at best.

Boyle is not a good NFL quarterback. He has a live arm and enough arm talent to get by, but this is also the same QB who threw one touchdown and 13 interceptions at the University of Connecticut before transferring to Eastern Kentucky.

Even at EKU — an FCS school — Boyle still finished with more interceptions than touchdowns. He's not an NFL-caliber backup quarterback, so it's not as if the Jets signed someone like Chase Daniel or Blaine Gabbert.

Wilson has a real opportunity to beat out Boyle for the backup job. In reality, the hope should absolutely be that he does.

This also suggests that the Jets are unlikely to target a quarterback at any point in the 2023 NFL Draft. They've done their homework on a few Day 2/Day 3 prospects, most notably TCU's Max Duggan, but Boyle's addition probably means they aren't going that route.

It'll be Aaron Rodgers, Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle, and Chris Streveler in training camp, assuming the Jets finalize the Rodgers trade before that point.

The Boyle signing shows that the Jets aren't committed to Wilson as QB2, but it also indicates that they want to give him every opportunity to prove that he can be that guy. Boyle isn't exactly a proven commodity in his own right.

The Jets signed a veteran backup quarterback, and although Boyle certainly isn't the preferred choice, he's better than nothing.