The New York Jets received a pretty big scare in their preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles when young quarterback Zach Wilson went down to injury in the second quarter.
Wilson injured his knee scrambling and seemed to be in a lot of pain, leading to speculation that it might have been a serious injury.
New York received good news one day later as tests showed Wilson avoided an ACL injury. Rather, he’s expected to miss multiple weeks and will undergo surgery on a torn meniscus. Pending the outcome of said surgery, Zach Wilson could be back Week 1. However, that seems highly unlikely.
Once Wilson went down Friday evening, attention obviously turned to New York potentially being interested in San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. There’s a connection here with New York’s coaching staff having a built-in relationship with Garoppolo dating back to Robert Saleh and Co. being a part of Kyle Shanahan’s staff in Northern California.
This is now looking less likely with veteran Joe Flacco set to take over until Wilson is able to return from injury.
“The hope is that Zach Wilson gets a trim rather than a full repair of the meniscus. There’s a lot of optimism that it’s just going to be just a trim, along with the bone bruise, which is not surgical. They think he’s going to be OK earlier in the season. But when it seemed on Saturday night that he wasn’t going to be, I wondered about Jimmy G (Garoppolo), but it seems like it’s going to be Flacco. Like, they really like where Joe Flacco is, in this offense especially.”
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported on Monday, via the Pat McAfee show
Joe Flacco always made the most sense for the New York Jets
Sure, Garoppolo knows Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s scheme. If Wilson had suffered a more serious injury, he likely already would be a member of Gang Green. But considering the information we have on said injury right now, Flacco makes the most sense as a stopgap option.
Garoppolo would cost $24.2 million against the cap for an acquiring team. Entering his third season with New York, Flacco is set to count $3.39 million against the cap and offers a seamless transition. It’s also not like he’s performed at a substandard level in limited action in New York.
- Joe Flacco stats (2020-21): 57% completion, 1,202 yards, 9 TD, 3 INT, 88.3 QB rating
Sure, Flacco is 0-5 in his five starts during this span. But it’s also important to note that the Jets are 6-22 when he doesn’t start since the beginning of the 2020 season. It’s been a team-wide failure under former coach Adam Gase and the aforementioned Saleh.
Where things stand with Jimmy Garoppolo
Garoppolo will either be traded or released ahead of final cuts in roughly two weeks. He has not taken part in training camp practices and wasn’t on hand when young quarterback Trey Lance showed out in San Francisco’s preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers Friday evening.
It’s long been a foregone conclusion that Garoppolo will head to another NFL host city. However, the market has dried out considerably for his services. That apparently includes the New York Jets not being interested in the Super Bowl quarterback.
Right now, it seems to be a safe bet that Garoppolo will end up with the Cleveland Browns if the NFL’s appeal of Deshaun Watson’s six-game ban is approved. Recent reports indicate that there’s confidence Watson will be out of the league for the entire 2022 season. A decision on said appeal is expected some time soon.
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