EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — There is always a genuine excitement in the air when two top overall picks like the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars currently have are set to face off. While both teams are on the cusp of playoff berths, their questions surrounding each other’s quarterbacks couldn’t be more different.
New York enters Thursday night’s contest losers of four of their last five games. In that span, they have benched 2021 second-overall pick, Zach Wilson, for Mike White, and have had to go back to Wilson due to injury.
The Jaguars, on the other hand, are just a game out of first place in the AFC South and have Trevor Lawrence playing the best football of his young career as the 2021 first-overall pick. In the last six games played, the Clemson phenom has thrown 14 touchdowns to just one interception while the Jaguars have gone from NFL laughingstock to dangerous team.
Most teams are normally excited about the growth of their young players as they believe their signal-callers are the ones who can lead them out from the doormat of the NFL.
While the Jaguars can certainly say this about their top overall selection, the Jets appear to be wondering if they made the right decision in a class that was considered one of the best coming out of college.
Wilson has yet to complete over 60% of his passes in back-to-back games this season. While he has shown bright spots at times, the lack of consistency has been the main contributor to his benching so early in his career.
Questions now surround the Jets and their top pick from just a year ago. Jacksonville has questions about their team as well, but their concerns stem more about how far Lawrence can actually take them in just their second season. The Jags seem more concerned about if they have put enough around their quarterback for him to take a leap.
The Jets are just looking to see if Wilson can be an average quarterback.
With Thursday night football coming to ahead in just a few hours, the Jets and Jags will have their top picks highlighted in tonight’s contest. Questions surround both teams, but clearly on opposite ends of the spectrum.
And if there was a time for Zach Wilson to show he belonged, it will need to be tonight.
