The New York Jets gave up on quarterback Zach Wilson after just three seasons, and the second overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft then spent the 2024 campaign as an unused backup with the Denver Broncos.
In March, Wilson signed with the Miami Dolphins to continue his development under head coach and offensive guru Mike McDaniel. McDaniel recently spoke with reporters about why he views Wilson as a solid quarterback reclamation project this spring.
“I watched every snap of his collegiate play, and he was a phenomenal talent that, in my opinion, didn’t have reps in an NFL pocket yet,” McDaniel said, as shared by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “Like at BYU, he was launching it from about 10 and 11 yards deep, and you’re not in the phone booth, and so my estimation, there was going to be some nuanced growth to his game that I think it is close to impossible to excel that early in that new form of football that he was playing.”
Wilson showed plenty of promise while with the Jets, even after it became clear in 2023 that a parting of the ways would ultimately be best for everybody involved. The Jets playing Wilson as a rookie seemingly did him no favors, though, and he went 12-21 as a starter during a tenure that included multiple benchings and the team’s failed Aaron Rodgers experiment.
“What I see in Zach is the experience of being the second pick in the draft, being the starter Week 1 and then not fulfilling the rookie contract — that is behind him,” McDaniel added. “So to me, that’s an exciting prospect because you can’t put a measurement on that human ability that is huge at the quarterback position.”
McDaniel mentioned how starter Tua Tagovailoa has thrived in the club’s current offense, when healthy, since the start of the 2022 season. Tagovailoa’s worrisome history of concussions suggests that Wilson may be needed for more than just mop-up duties during the 2025 campaign, so the 25-year-old should spend the next handful of months preparing as if he could be Miami’s Week 1 QB1.
