Steve Young: Jets’ Tough Love Approach Failed QB Zach Wilson

Steve Young is confident that he understands why the Jets mishandled Zach Wilson.

This week, the Hall of Famer spoke on “The Michael Kay Show” on ESPN New York and shared his thoughts on the dire circumstances surrounding the second-year quarterback.

Steve Young: Jets’ Tough Love Approach Failed QB Zach Wilson

“Zach doesn’t need tough love. He doesn’t need somebody to see how tough he is,” Young said. “He needs a big brother — a young, knowledgeable innovator, someone who he can trust and says to him, ‘You know what, despite everything that’s happened, Zach, I believe in you. You can get this done.’”

Wilson’s relationship with the Jets, according to Young, “needs healing” if the two do not part ways.

Wilson was taken by the Jets in the second round of the 2021 Draft. After two subpar games against the Patriots, spaced a few weeks apart, and his refusal to accept responsibility in a post-game press conference, he was benched in November.

Young thought that someone like Kliff Kingsbury, who was recently fired as coach of the Arizona Cardinals, would be a good offensive steward for Wilson. Young conducted the interview before the Jets fired LaFleur, the team’s second-year offensive coordinator.

“Zach’s problems are not physical. Zach’s problems are expectations and how he deals with expectations,” Young said. “He’s gotta figure out a way to process all his expectations so it doesn’t affect his play.”

The good news for Wilson, I guess, is that those expectations are pretty low these days.

“That’s a process that’s gonna go on,” Young said. “And it’s not hard. It’s not long-suffering. It’s growing up. It’s maturing. It’s figuring out how to deal with the stuff in front of you.”

Young is someone who has been in Wilson’s corner. He is a fellow BYU alum, and in November argued with Booger McFarland on ESPN’s airwaves that Wilson is “tough-minded” when McFarland said Wilson had come from money and faced little adversity growing up.

 

 

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