Robert Saleh: The QB has the most eyes on him, but there’s pressure on everybody

Broadway Joe

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Mar 19, 2019
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2021 NFL Draft

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Rookie quarterback Zach Wilson is the likely Week 1 starter for the Jets in the upcoming season. The only other two players at his position currently on New York’s roster are James Morgan and Mike White.

There’s an inherent pressure that comes with being the No. 2 overall pick. Wilson has that plus the added elevated status of being a QB in New York.

Wilson said after his selection that head coach Robert Saleh helped to take some of that pressure off him with his draft call, during which the head coach said the team will lift Wilson — not the other way around.

On the first day of rookie minicamp, Saleh reiterated that point when asked about his general philosophy on bringing rookie QBs along to be prepared to start.

“The one thing about this league is there’s pressure on everybody. Everyone’s under the gun. And I get the quarterback has the most eyes on him, but we’re all under pressure to make sure we’re all helping each other have success,” Saleh said Friday. “To hide him — you can’t, that’s impossible. If you do that, you’re wasting time.

“The biggest thing we’re going to try to accomplish is to make sure that we’re growing as a football team first, and obviously the questions about the quarterback, how he plays, the scrutiny and the critique that he gets — I get it, that comes with the position. But it’s our job as an entire organization to make sure everybody, all 53, are lifting one another and the entire organization is lifting all 53 in order to get us to where we want to go in the future.”

Wilson has his first chance to make an on-field impression this weekend with the Jets’ rookie minicamp. But he’ll have to work quickly to be ready for when the lights come on in September.
 
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