Aaron Rodgers hopes to pave the way for Zach Wilson
Aaron Rodgers hopes to lead the Jets to a Super Bowl and set them up for the future by preparing Zach Wilson to succeed him.
“I’d like to be able to play a few good years here and then hand it right back off to Zach and let him go for the next 15,” Rodgers said in an interview that aired during the pregame show before the Jets’ 13-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night. “Then it’d be a really special 18-, 20-year run of great quarterback play.”
Rodgers again made it seem as if he will play more than two seasons with the Jets if his body holds up. He also continues to tout Wilson and give him tremendous support.
“It helps me knowing that he believes in me that I can play in this game for a long time,” Wilson said. “That’s why I lean on him so much. Truly appreciative to have a big brother like that.”
Wilson has had a rough start to his career after the Jets drafted him second overall in 2021. He was benched twice last year and then was replaced by Rodgers.
Rodgers has been trying to mentor Wilson, who is embracing it and soaking in as much knowledge from the future Hall of Fame quarterback as he can.
“All the little details of his game have just kind of elevated,” coach Robert Saleh said. “Credit to him, he’s just absorbing all this information and just learning so freaking much.
“I give him so much credit because it’s already hard enough to be asked to do what he’s doing and to do it with the openness that he’s been doing it and the way he’s attacked it.”
Wilson, who looked up to Rodgers when he was growing up, played five series Saturday and led two field-goal drives. He was 9-for-13 for 70 yards and had an impressive 35-yard run. He spun away from the rush, juked two defenders and raced down the sideline.
Saleh thought it was a nice run but that Wilson should have gone out of bounds to avoid risking an injury.
Two-minute drill
Mekhi Becton got his first preseason action at right tackle. He didn’t start, but he played 25 snaps. He could get some first-team reps in practice . . . Rookie center/ guard Joe Tippmann left the game with a knee injury . . . Rookie running back Izzy Abanikanda suffered a right thigh contusion in the fourth quarter, was helped off the field and couldn’t put any pressure on the leg.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
