As expected, the Jets will have their No. 2 overall pick back under center when they take on the Texans on Sunday. As Alex Smith of SNY.tv writes, Zach Wilson will get the start for Gang Green.
Wilson suffered a PCL sprain in the team’s blowout loss at the hands of the Patriots in Week 7, and since then, the Jets have deployed Mike White, Josh Johnson, and Joe Flacco at quarterback. New York has gone 1-3 in that span, with its lone victory coming in a White-led upset of the Bengals in Week 8.
White’s performance in the Cincinnati game and in the first quarter of the ensuing matchup against the Colts — he left that contest early due to an injury of his own — gave the former fifth-rounder a chance to hang onto the starting job even when Wilson was healthy enough to return. But while the Jets still plan to tender White, an impending RFA, this offseason, his disastrous four-interception outing against the Bills in Week 10 scuttled that opportunity. He was benched in favor of the veteran Flacco for last week’s loss to the Dolphins.
Of course, even if the Jets were inclined to start one of White or Flacco over Wilson this week, they would be unable to. The team has placed both passers on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and they will be forced to miss Sunday’s game. Johnson will serve as Wilson’s backup.
Wilson has generally struggled in his rookie season. The BYU product has gone just 1-5 in his six starts and has mustered a meager 63.5 quarterback rating. He has completed just 57.5% of his passes and has tossed four touchdowns against nine interceptions. If he can show a marked improvement down the home stretch, the Jets’ offseason outlook will be considerably brighter.
November 22nd, 2021 at 3:27pm CST by Zachary Links
Jets rookie running back Michael Carter has been diagnosed with a low-grade high ankle sprain (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). Carter is expected to miss 2-3 weeks, but there’s no word yet on whether the Jets will move him to the injured reserve list.
Carter — not to be confused with the Jets’ rookie fifth-round defensive back of the same name — was a fourth-round selection in this year’s draft. This Carter split time with Broncos second-round pick Javonte Williams at UNC and registered back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2019 and 2020. His senior year was particularly efficient — the 5-foot-7, 201-pounder averaged 8.0 yards per tote en route to 1,245 yards and nine touchdowns.
So far this year, he’s got 430 yards off of 111 carries (3.9 ypc average). In an all-around flat Jets offense, he’s emerged as the top option ahead of veteran Tevin Coleman and the rest of the bunch.
Without Carter, the Jets will lean more on Coleman, Ty Johnson, La’mical Perine, and Nick Bawden when they take on the Texans this week.
Mike White‘s feel-good 2021 season lasted about five quarters. The fourth-year quarterback led the Jets to an upset of the Bengals in relief of the injured Zach Wilson in Week 8 and then played well in the early stages of the club’s Week 9 loss to the Colts before being forced out with an injury. But his four-interception showing against the Bills last week forced HC Robert Saleh to turn the reins over to veteran Joe Flacco for today’s game against the Dolphins.
The move still qualified as something of a surprise, as New York is not competing for a playoff spot and arguably should have tried to see if White could rebound from his poor outing. The good news for White, as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com says, is that he is still in the Jets’ plans and that the team will tender him as a restricted free agent this offseason.
Cimini recently said that was the expectation, though after the disappointing Bills game and with Wilson slated to return soon — Cimini adds that Wilson has a good chance to suit up for next week’s bout with the Texans — the Jets’ potential last look at White in game action in 2021 might have put his future with the team in jeopardy. It does not sound like that is the case, however, and Cimini writes that the Jets expect White to draw interest from other clubs, which could prompt Gang Green to hand him the second-round tender worth $3.9MM (the original-round tender checks in at $2.4MM).
In related news, the Jets’ top decision-makers are not alarmed by the team’s seven losses in nine games, a number of which have been blowouts. Aside from his election to start Flacco over White, Saleh has adhered to the plan of getting as much playing time for young contributors as possible, and as Cimini observes, the Jets are on pace to give 9,000 snaps to their first- and second-year players. Of the 19 teams to hit that threshold from 2017-19, 13 realized an increase in their win total the following season (with an average of 3.8 more victories).
Of course, GM Joe Douglas will need to nail the 2022 draft — in which he is slated to have nine picks — but the organization expects to return to competitiveness no later than 2023.
