Zach Wilson’s Dolphins stint is going exactly how Jets fans expected

Zach Wilson hoped to follow in the footsteps of fellow former New York Jets quarterbacks like Sam Darnold and Geno Smith by revitalizing his career elsewhere. Unfortunately for Wilson, his revenge tour isn’t exactly off to a promising start.

Wilson's latest attempt at a career revival saw him sign a one-year, fully guaranteed $6 million contract with the Miami Dolphins this past offseason. The Dolphins signed Wilson to be their undisputed QB2, a move that was widely questioned at the time.

Now, just a few months later, he's already been demoted. Miami officially relegated Wilson to a third-string role in Week 7, leaving him as a healthy scratch in favor of rookie seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers ahead of the team's game against the Cleveland Browns.

Wilson spent essentially the entirety of the 2024 season as a weekly third-string healthy scratch for the Denver Broncos. Now, after appearing in just one game for Miami this year, he finds himself in the exact same situation again.

Former Jets QB Zach Wilson somehow found a way to be benched from the bench

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Wilson spent the first three years of his career with the Jets, where he would establish himself as one of the biggest draft busts in recent NFL history.

Wilson started 33 games in New York, finishing his Jets career with 23 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, and a 12-21-1 record as a starter. The Jets would trade Wilson to the Broncos ahead of the 2024 season in a swap of late-round picks.

Wilson became a personal pet project of Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who believed he could unlock some of the potential the former BYU quarterback had flashed in the past. But despite reported signs of progress, Wilson never received an opportunity to take the field.

The Dolphins clearly bought in, signing Wilson to be their backup quarterback to Tua Tagovailoa this offseason. The move made little sense at the time, both given Wilson's career struggles and his questionable fit in the offense.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a worse fit for Mike McDaniel's timing and anticipation-based offense than Wilson, and he was joining a quarterback room that featured perhaps the most injury-prone QB in football. His only "competition" for the backup job was a seventh-round rookie.

Yet, despite this, Wilson has now found himself benched in favor of said seventh-round rookie less than two months into the season. This has not been the Darnold-like post-Jets turnaround Wilson was likely hoping for.

The Dolphins have seemingly learned a lesson Jets fans knew a long time ago. Zach Wilson isn't an NFL-caliber backup quarterback. Miami just confirmed that notion.