Zach Wilson struggles, Robert Saleh compares to Peyton Manning

New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson struggled this week in practice. Wilson makes his NFL debut this Saturday against cross-town rivals, the New York Giants. Wilson, like most NFL rookies, is taking time to adapt from the collegiate level to the professional level. 

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that the rookie quarterback had an uneven performance Monday. Although he had moments of sharpness, they were offset by an equal number of errors from the No. 2 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. While this may be a concern for Jets’ fans, head coach Robert Saleh emphasizes the more reps Wilson receives, he will grow into the player that the Jets believe him to be.

“We don’t fear the man that has 10,000 kicks that he practices one time each, we fear the man who has one kick that he practices 10,000 times,” Saleh said. “So the more that they get the rep the things that we ask them to do, the faster they’re going to get naturally.

Today from #Jets camp, where they’re preaching patience for Zach Wilson. pic.twitter.com/cyOTLJLrfn

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 9, 2021

Zach Wilson recieves support from Robert Saleh

Although Wilson continues to adapt to playing in the NFL, he has ample support from Robert Saleh. The Jets head coach has compared Wilson’s shortcomings to Peyton Manning’s rough start as a rookie, who eventually blossomed into a Hall of Famer. 

“There’s a reason why being a rookie is hard in this league,” Saleh told reporters. “There was a Hall of Famer yesterday that was inducted that had a 71 quarterback rating his rookie year. It’s not easy to play quarterback in this league as a rookie, especially a quarterback. But it is going to get worse before it gets better. But he’s at that point now where he’s going to be able to stack up days. We have the utmost confidence in him and his ability and his ability to figure out the mistakes and correct them and get to a better play.”

The former BYU standout passed for 3,692 yards for the Cougars last season, completing 73.5-percent of his passes and 33 touchdowns. Wilson added 250 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground before declaring for early entry in the 2021 NFL Draft.