Zach Wilson Has Achieved the High Honor of Worst Draft Pick in Jets History

Seth Wenig. Shutterstock Images.

Zach Wilson has been bestowed a lot of titles over the last three years or so. BYU Cougar. Boca Raton Bowl Champion. Blue Chip Prospect. No. 2 Overall Pick. New York Jet. MILF Hunter Extraordinaire. And last night he added to that growing list of accolades by making history.

Losing his job first to Mike White and now to Chris Streveler cements his legacy. Wilson has now surpassed an impressive field of candidates who have, at one time or another, vied for the title of Worst Jets Draft Pick Ever. 

When you've made just 22 career starts and have already been benched for the likes of White, Streveler and a 37 year old Joe Flacco, your candidacy for that dishonor should speak for itself. But just to make Wilson's case, among qualifying quarterbacks, he's:

• 38th in passer rating
• 33rd in completion %
• 3rd lowest in touchdown %
• 5th highest in interception %
• 26th in yards per game
• 38th in Pro Football Focus overall grade

Moreover, he's now been inactive for 10 of a potential 32 starts, and is not likely to see the field any time soon. In fact, it's much more likely that his team and his agent have a handshake agreement right now to sit down after the season and have a talk about a mutually beneficial parting of the ways. To spare him, his teammates, and the paying customers, any more of this:

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But believe me, I don't make a claim like Worst Jets Draft Pick Ever capriciously. That is a status that some busts have given their lives to achieve. The men who have worn that crown paid the ultimate sacrifice for it and won't give it up easily. Especially to some upstart that hasn't even finished his second year on the job. For the Jets, it's a integral part of who they are:

So it would be a disservice to the men who have worn that honor like they've been knighted by the Queen. Men like, in reverse chronological order:

2020: Mekhi Becton, 11th pick. The thing is, I loved Becton coming into the league. I thought he had a chance to be the D'Brickashaw Ferguson for a new generation. But since that promising rookie season, he's played one game. One. Until he gets back on the field for a half a season, at least, he's in this discussion.

2018: Sam Darnold, 3rd pick. The Savior of the Franchise before Wilson became the Savior of the Franchise. He ended up winning 13 of his 38 starts before being shipped to Carolina before his 24th birthday in exchange for a Dunkins' gift card. 

2013: Dee Milliner, 9th pick. I'd like to let the Jets off the hook on this one because Milliner had one of the most positive draft profiles of any prospect I can remember since maybe Luke Keuchley. Like you could not find a negative trait attributed to him from any scout anywhere. And to a person they all projected him to be a perennial Pro Bowler. He didn't manage any, which is understandable when he was benched as a rookie and saw action in all of 10 games over his final two seasons. He ended up leaving football due to illness: The Jets got sick of him. 

2009: Mark Sanchez, 5th pick. Sanchize is inarguably the most successful name on this list. After all, he led the Jets to two straight AFC title games in his first two seasons. Which is going to be in the opening paragraph of his obituary, even if he cures cancer and is the first man on Mars. Despite being over .500 for his Jets career, they moved on from him before he got to the end of his rookie deal and he appeared in just 11 games over his final four years in Philly and Washington. He does get extra consideration because the Jets moved up to take him. Despite Pete Carroll's assurance he left USC and wasn't ready for pro football. Pete may have been playing the long con on that one, but was ultimately proven right. 

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2008: Vernon Gholston, 6th pick. This one is a personal favorite, because the Patriots were sitting just behind the Jets with the 7th pick and rumored to be super duper ultra plus excited to take Gholston, and reportedly working the phones in a desperate attempt to move up. Then the day before the draft, Mike Felger called Bill Belichick to find him leaving his office to get to his kid's lacrosse practice. Meaning the whole thing was a smokescreen. Gang Green took the cheese. Belichick dropped down to No. 10 to take Jerod Mayo, who turned out to be the DROTY, a 10-year captain and now a coach. Gholston went on to record zero sacks and one QB hit over his entire three-year career. 

Impressive as these resumes might be, if things don't suddenly turn around for Zach Wilson, his name goes on this trophy. He'll be the Top Gun until some other abject failure comes along to steal the title from him. And if that day should come, we'll know the new legend will have achieved all time Bust status. Because it's hard, if not damned near impossible, for anyone to crash and burn this spectacularly, this fast. 

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