New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh said on Monday that “it’s possible” second-year quarterback Zach Wilson is ready to play in the team’s season-opener against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday after suffering a knee injury in the preseason. But on Wednesday Saleh revealed that not only will Wilson miss the season opener, he’ll be out several more weeks, as well.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Saleh said the earliest he expects Wilson to return is the team’s Week 4 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is slated for Oct. 9.
“The earliest he’s going to be available is Pittsburgh,” Saleh said, according to the New York Post. “That’s going to be the earliest just from everything we gathered over the last couple of days. Now, can that change? I’m always going to leave that door open. You guys know me. I’m the eternal optimist. But we are going to make sure that both mind and body are 110 percent and do right by him and we feel like talking to the doctors and everyone, it’s going to be that Pittsburgh week.”
With Wilson out for several more weeks, the New York Jets will turn to veteran quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco will start the season-opener against his former team, the Baltimore Ravens, and then will be the team’s starter until Wilson returns.
Naturally, the NFL world had quite a strong reaction to the stunning update on Wilson’s status.
https://twitter.com/SeanFennessey/status/1567551965336600576?s=20&t=k5NjMT9w2g7STJ3AC7kxnw
went from possibly being ready for Week 1 to Week 4 at the earliest in the span of 2 days..can only imagine how stressed out the #Ravens have been over these mind games https://t.co/t2w6CDdqKy
— Lance Medow (@LanceMedow) September 7, 2022
Week 4? Wow. Not ideal but better than losing Wilson for the entire season. https://t.co/1ZOERz77Ox
— Jake Asman (@JakeAsman) September 7, 2022
Jets under 5.5 wins easiest money of my life. I might put even more on it https://t.co/1FNAKCw4Ue
— Lawrence Scotti (@younglawrence) September 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/brfreed/status/1567552047871836165?s=20&t=k5NjMT9w2g7STJ3AC7kxnw
While this isn’t exactly great news for the Jets, it’s still better than Wilson missing the entire season.
