Zach Wilson had his first NFL practice. What was learned from it?
Wilson #Wilson
Zach Wilson’s first NFL practice is in the books, as the former BYU quarterback sported a red No. 2 jersey during the New York Jets’ opening day of rookie minicamp on Friday.
Other than getting his feet wet, there was little else to report from what is the start of the Utah native’s NFL career.
Not even his jersey number is certain: ESPN’s Rich Cimini noted that while Wilson is wearing No. 2 right now, numbers aren’t yet official.
Watch Wilson’s first practice
Several media members shared video of Wilson’s first day of rookie minicamp:
Initial takeaways
Not surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot to take away from the team’s first day of rookie minicamp.
“Zach Wilson’s first day was uneventful,” Cimini wrote. “During the one-hour portion that was open to the media, he worked with the offensive coaches, mainly on footwork on dropbacks. The media didn’t have access to 7-on-7. Robert Saleh said he wasn’t trying to hide anything, but that he wanted the rookies to start out in a low-pressure environment.”
The Athletic’s Connor Hughes noted that while the media were there, Wilson never threw to a wide receiver that was defended and never threw beyond five yards downfield.
“Unfortunately, much ado about nothing and not too much to talk about here today just because the Jets obviously did very, very little with Zach Wilson during the media open portion of practice,” Hughes said on an Instagram video.
The Zach Wilson-Elijah Moore connection
Wilson did get on the field with one of his new wide receivers — Elijah Moore of Mississippi, the team’s second-round pick in last week’s NFL draft.
“We’ve been in contact almost every day, despite the fact we’re both very busy learning the playbook and just trying to get acclimated,” Moore told reporters, of Wilson. “He’s someone that wasted no time, as soon as he knew that they got me, I started watching his highlights, he started watching mine. I’m gonna do whatever I can to make him look good, and vice versa.”
From the coach
“He’s a young man that loves football,” first-year Jets head coach Robert Saleh told reporters during a press conference between the team’s morning and afternoon sessions of practice. “I’m not just talking about Zach but the entire free agent class, the entire draft class. … When you have a love for football, you’re going to do everything you can to help yourself not only get better at it but you’re going to do everything you can to protect it, which means your off-the-field stuff is going to be right.
“So to have Zach, your quarterback, have that mindset where he’s just always trying to find a way to get better, it’s awesome. But it’s something we want to see out of every single one of our guys.”