NFL Draft: Zach Wilson ready to prove he's worthy of No. 2 pick Jets took him with

Zach Wilson wore bracelets every game at BYU that read "prove them wrong" and "leave a legacy" and a headband that read "any team, any time, any place." Those messages and that mentality inspired Wilson and helped him become the new franchise quarterback for the Jets.

He wasn’t highly recruited coming out of high school and certainly wasn’t projected to be a top pick in the draft heading into his junior year, but he had an outstanding season and shot all the way up the draft board. The Jets used the No. 2 pick on Thursday night on Wilson, who is still driven to prove people wrong.

"I wouldn’t say [I have] the underdog mentality as much anymore — I’d say the ability to still prove something," Wilson said during a Zoom call from the Jets’ facility on Friday. "If you’re the second overall pick and you don’t perform and you don’t work hard, it really means nothing down the road.

"All this is is an opportunity for me to come to an amazing organization and take the same approach that I did when no one believed in me back at BYU at a time after my sophomore year. It’s really that ‘prove them wrong’ mentality of just being able to have that chip on your shoulder and making sure you’re working and doing everything you can, no matter how high the highs are or lows the lows are."

As a sophomore, Wilson was coming off shoulder surgery, broke his right thumb during the season and threw only 11 touchdown passes. He was fully healthy as a junior, though, when he accounted for 43 touchdowns (33 passing and 10 rushing) and was intercepted only three times.

Wilson led the Cougars to an 11-1 mark, though the team was criticized for not playing a tougher schedule. That’s what led to the headband that he started wearing during the season.

"People were doubting our schedule," he said. "The message behind it — it wasn’t a cocky statement at all. We’re confident in ourselves and we’re ready to play anybody, no matter where, no matter when. People doubted the competition we played, and we weren’t afraid to play anyone."

Wilson heard it again leading up to the draft. Many critics pointed to BYU’s schedule and wondered if he would do well in the NFL.

The Jets weren’t concerned.

They saw enough of Wilson on video, during his pro day and in their Zoom meetings that they were confident he was the right person to lead them and end the NFL’s longest current playoff drought of 10 seasons.

General manager Joe Douglas pointed to Wilson winning on the road at Tennessee and beating USC in back-to-back weeks the previous year.

"I think it was cool to see a young quarterback go into an SEC environment in 2019 and win a game at Tennessee, and go and play USC and win that game," Douglas said. "It’s not like he hasn’t played high-level competition before."

The NFL is very different, though. The game is faster, players are bigger and stronger, and Wilson will go through growing pains as he learns to read the different types of defenses. But he is a self-proclaimed "film junkie" and can’t wait to get to work.

Wilson met with Jets executives and coaches on Friday, got a tour of the facility and talked to some players who were in the building. He said he won’t forget what it took to get here and won’t stop working to prove people wrong.

"It’s so cool to be in this position," he said. "All I can really take away from it is just gratitude and how thankful I am just to be in the situation . . . I just got to earn my stripes now.

"That draft spot is really just an opportunity to come in here and work as hard as I can, to be one of the dudes, make some good connections with the guys and give everything I have every day."