The New York Jets knew what was coming on Monday night after the Jets' 22-16 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was brought in this offseason to bring the team back to the playoffs, suffered a ruptured Achilles on his fourth snap of the game and is now out for the season. Prior to and after the news was announced, head coach Robert Saleh said that Zach Wilson will be their starting quarterback moving forward. Saleh said that they will be looking to add a quarterback to fill out the depth chart, but would not compete with Wilson for starter's reps.
On Tuesday, during an appearance on ESPN's "Get Up," former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III discussed the Jets' options at quarterback with Rodgers out for the year. When discussing big names on the market like Carson Wentz, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, and himself as options for the Jets, Griffin said that it's not that they can't play, it's that they would create a distraction for Wilson and the team.
But Griffin says that the Jets' best option at quarterback moving forward is with Wilson due to his knowledge of the offense.
Robert Griffin III talks why the Jets may not bring in a big-name QB after Aaron Rodgers injury
"So now that your starter in Aaron Rodgers is out, you can potentially go and grab some of those guys and bring them in," Griffin said. "But I will tell you right now, there's not a guy on the street or in any booth anywhere including myself that has, that's going to give the Jets a better chance to win than Zach Wilson. None of us know the offense, none of us have those relationships in the locker room. It's going to be Zach Wilson or nobody this year for the Jets and they got to accept that."
It wasn't really a case of Griffin throwing his name in the ring for the Jets' quarterback opening. Rather, he was just bringing up an example of how a player with name recognition like him may not get the attention of the Jets because they are set on Wilson being the guy for the rest of the season.
Griffin entered the league back in 2012 as the second-overall pick by the now-Washington Commanders. He lit up the league in his first season, winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and leading Washington to the NFC East Championship. However, in the Wild Card Round against the Seattle Seahawks, Griffin tore his ACL and LCL. Griffin was never able to replicate the success he had in his rookie season and was eventually benched for Kirk Cousins.
After three years with Washington, Griffin received the opportunity to start for the Cleveland Browns in 2016, where he went 1-4 in five starts. He was limited to those amount of games due to injury. From 2018 until 2020, Griffin played for the Baltimore Ravens, backing up Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson.
In his seven seasons, Griffin threw for 9,271 yards, 43 touchdowns, and 30 interceptions while completing 63.0 percent of his passes. Additionally, Griffin ran for 1,809 yards, and 10 touchdowns on 307 carries. Griffin has a 16-26 record as a starting quarterback.
The Jets still believe that Wilson can turn things around and help do just enough to lead them to wins. After all, he did just enough to get the Jets the Week 1 win, as the defense dominated the Bills and took advantage of quarterback Josh Allen's mistakes. Wilson's first start of the 2023 season will be against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
