Zach Wilson Spoke With These Legendary Quarterbacks After Getting Benched

Wilson reached out to these all-time quarterbacks when he was resetting on the sidelines, benched for three games.

When Zach Wilson was benched last month, a new low point in his career, the former No. 2 overall pick reached out to some former NFL quarterbacks that went through a similar taste of adversity early in their careers. 

Wilson revealed to reporters on Tuesday that he spoke with Steve Young and John Beck—two quarterbacks with a BYU connection—as well as Drew Brees and Kurt Warner. He wanted to learn as much about their journeys as possible before returning to the field in a Jets uniform.

"The biggest thing was there’s going to be these ups and downs in football and you always have to believe in yourself and rely on your support system and just understand that this is all just part of the process," Wilson said, looking ahead to his start against the Jaguars this week. "Some of the biggest things I took from it was where you want to get, this is just going to help you get there faster. the bumps, the ups and downs, it’s tough, but eventually you’re able to make your way through it. Along the way, you’re able to learn a lot of really good lessons, and you’re almost able to be more aware as well."

Wilson has a long way to go before he is in the same conversation with those legendary quarterbacks, or others that hit speed bumps early in their career. In the meantime, his head coach Robert Saleh is preaching patience.

"The quarterback position, it takes time," Saleh said on Tuesday. "There’s quarterbacks through the history of time that needed just a little bit longer to find their groove. So, when you see Zach, he’s got a lot of things that you just can’t teach. You just can’t teach some of the stuff that he does. For him, it’s learning the timing and rhythm aspect of it and the intermediate pass game and finding all that consistency for four quarters, because when he is in rhythm and he is hitting on all cylinders, it’s pretty cool to watch."

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