Photo: Kim Klement/USA Today Sports
Jets general manager Joe Douglas spent months deciding which college quarterback he should draft as the Jets No. 2 overall draft pick. He made that decision going back to November. He felt the Jets needed to move on from Sam Darnold at quarterback, and the feeling was mutual from the quarterback’s end.
The day arrives on Thursday.
Reportedly, Douglas made his decision months ago to draft BYU quarterback Zach Wilson. He will officially make the selection Thursday night as the NFL Draft commences.
Maybe it’s a smokescreen and he will draft Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields instead of Wilson. Now that would be news.
Douglas better be right on Wilson if he is truly smitten with his talent and intangibles. He won’t get another chance to draft the next quarterback, especially if Fields performs like a star to a team that drafts him. This franchise could take another step back for another 10 years if he gets it wrong. Not only he has to get it right with the quarterback, but he better get it right in drafting the right guys for Wilson to work with on offense.
No pressure.
Give Douglas credit for having the intuition and gumption to believe in Wilson. It could have been easy to take the safe route and draft Fields. Apparently, Douglas saw something in the BYU quarterback to hitch his reputation on him.
The Jets general manager fell in love with the way Wilson slung the ball. The BYU star has a great work ethic in the sense he spends time watching films and studying tapes of other quarterbacks to gain an edge. Everyone loves the way he reads the defense. His fighting spirit makes him for who he is as a quarterback. In other words, think Chad Pennington. That’s actually a great thing since Pennington had the tools and intangibles to be a great quarterback until shoulder injuries hindered his career.
This all sounds nice, but guess what? One can make a case for any quarterback not named Johnny Manziel. All the things about Wilson can be said the same for Fields.
Fields would fit well under Mike LaFleur’s offense since it’s a play-action offense that Mike Shanahan has been known for. He definitely can run and adlib by throwing a pass. He has been more proven and polished than Wilson. One can make a case that Fields is better than Douglas when it comes to operating a play-action pass.
Here’s another reason I like Fields over Wilson: Fields played in a tough conference in the Big Ten. He thrived under pressure as the Ohio State quarterback. In big games, he shined. His performance against Clemson in the college football playoffs was enough to convince me he can be an NFL quarterback. He plays like Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson.
It’s not Wilson’s fault that BYU plays in a weak conference. It’s not his fault not many teams believed in him. He shouldn’t apologize for all of that.
But the Jets are in a position that they have to get it right after Mark Sanchez and Sam Darnold flopped as quarterbacks. They can’t keep being a graveyard for young quarterbacks. I don’t really know much about Wilson. I do know a lot more about Fields from his body of work.
The Jets need a quarterback who can handle pressure in big games, especially in a tough AFC East that features a proven Bills team, up-and-coming Miami Dolphins team and perennial playoff-contending New England Patriots team. They need a quarterback who embodies toughness. They need a quarterback who can handle the makeup of playing in New York. They need a guy who exudes confidence that the guys can rally around. In other words, they need to find their next Joe Namath.
Fields meets all those requirements. We really don’t know about Wilson, and that’s why it’s risky to draft a guy no one really knows, even if scouts and people like Steve Young are high on.
You can bet Fields will put in the effort to show that teams made a mistake bypassing him. It seems like the San Francisco 49ers want to draft Mac Jones. There’s a good chance a team such as the Chicago Bears or Philadelphia Eagles could move up to get Fields.
This is not to say Wilson will be complacent, but if Fields turns out to be a star elsewhere while Wilson goes through the same pains that Sanchez and Darnold as Jets quarterback, it would be a bad look with the Jets organization.
Maybe Douglas did Fields a favor by not playing for the Jets since that organization served as a graveyard for Jets quarterbacks. But for Jets fans, this won’t be a laughing matter if Wilson does not pan out. There are already Jets fans that are wondering what Douglas is even thinking.
Douglas does not get the benefit of the doubt because he works for the Jets. Jets executives such as Mike Maccagnan and John Idzik flopped in getting QBs. The current Jets general manager never had the experience of getting it right or wrong since this is his first try. All Jets fans know is failure.
Wilson’s play will be Douglas’ legacy whether it’s good or bad.
Make no mistake. There won’t be in-between. It either goes great or awful.
