Mike McDaniel names 'best thing' he's seen from Zach Wilson with Dolphins

Miami Dolphins quarterback Zach Wilson spent the 2024 season as an unused backup with the Denver Broncos after he experienced more lows than highs with the New York Jets from 2021 through the 2023 campaign. 

While speaking with reporters during the Dolphins' mandatory minicamp, head coach Mike McDaniel suggested that Wilson has bounced back from all he endured while with the Jets. 

"He looks like a guy that has been through some [expletive] and found his way through it, because it does not make him worse. He learns from it," McDaniel said about Wilson, as shared by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "And that’s realistically the best thing that’s gone on this offseason is I’ve seen a lot of people match those types of energies of supreme conviction in trying to be their very best, and you do that by boldly attacking stuff a lot of times that [is] uncomfortable."

Former Jets head coach Robert Saleh acknowledged back in January 2024 that he and his staff made a mistake by playing Wilson, the second overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, so early into his rookie season. The following fall, a frustrated Wilson upset some teammates when he declined to accept responsibility for the failures of the New York offense shortly after a loss. 

The Jets' plans for Wilson to enjoy a career reset while serving as a backup for Aaron Rodgers during the 2023 season blew up after Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles tendon four offensive snaps into that campaign. The relationship between the two signal-callers was reportedly never the same after Rodgers went down with his injury, and the Jets traded Wilson to the Broncos in April 2024. 

In total, Wilson went 12-21 as a starter with the Jets. 

"As a football player, I think he’s come close to about as much scrutiny as one could have," McDaniel said about Wilson. "...What I see is a guy that is playing football with the empowerment of, 'You know what? I’m strong enough to handle anything.'"

McDaniel added that Wilson possesses "supreme arm talent" similar to "John Elway and dudes with cannons." The Dolphins may need to get the most out of that talent sooner rather than later, considering Tua Tagovailoa's worrisome injury history. 

Tagovailoa has suffered three reported concussions since the fall of 2022, one of which sidelined Miami's QB1 for four games last season. He also missed the campaign's final two contests because of a hip issue.