Randall Cobb doesn’t think the Jets handled the Zach Wilson situation last season particularly well.
Cobb, who followed Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay to New York, joined Barstool’s “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast on Tuesday and was asked by Will Compton if everything with Wilson was as dramatic as it seemed from the outside last season.
“I think in the media, it was more dramatic than it actually was,” Cobb countered, as covered by Awful Announcing.
“I think that they had told him that they were gonna trade him in the offseason, and then they benched him, and then they wanted him to play again. And then they tried to blame him for not wanting to play, but you just told him that you were gonna trade him.
“It was a lot of politics, a lot of stuff in the media, it was a lot of like, ‘Come on, man, like what are we doing here?’ A lot of meeting with the media, feeding them stuff.”
Wilson was thrust into action last season when Rodgers tore his Achilles on the fourth play of scrimmage in the season opener against the Bills.
By mid-November, Wilson was benched for Tim Boyle, and was unsurprised by the team’s decision.
“When you’re not scoring touchdowns consistently and we’re letting our defense down and we’re not putting up points, what do you expect?” Wilson said at the time. “If you keep doing the same thing, nothing’s gonna change, so I understand.”
It was the third time in two seasons that the former second overall pick in the NFL Draft had been benched.
Nevertheless, Boyle played so poorly that after two games he was released.
It was then reported by The Athletic that Wilson was “reluctant” to the idea of starting again, but both the quarterback and head coach Robert Saleh denied that this was true.
Ultimately, Wilson was once again named the starter.
This offseason, the Jets traded Wilson and a seventh-round pick to the Broncos for a sixth-round pick.
ESPN reported this week that Wilson is “in the mix” to be the Broncos’ starting quarterback at the beginning of this season.
The Broncos also have rookie Bo Nix and veteran Jarrett Stidham on their roster.