A newspaper columnist in Zach Wilson’s home state of Utah penned a piece Tuesday urging the Jets to have a change of heart and not select the former BYU star quarterback in the 2021 NFL draft this month.

“Please, Jets, give Zach Wilson a break,” read the headline of the column from longtime Deseret News writer Doug Robinson.

The piece came in response to the Jets trading Sam Darnold, “their latest quarterback fail[ure],” as Robinson put it, to the Panthers last week, all but guaranteeing they will select Wilson with the second-overall pick on April 29.

“The New York Post ran a headline: ‘The Jets now belong to Zach Wilson,’ ” Robinson wrote. “Thanks for nothing.

“Look, the Jets are to quarterbacks what Larry King was to marriage,” Robinson wrote. “Look at their record.”

He proceeded to name-drop some of the quarterbacks, such as Darnold and Mark Sanchez, who have made their way through the Jets’ revolving door of signal-callers since Joe Namath.

But not even Broadway Joe could escape Robinson’s wrath: “Namath is the single-most overrated football player in history,” he wrote.

“Where will Wilson be in a few years?” Robinson wrote, while suggesting Wilson look into demanding a trade, as Eli Manning did when he was selected by the Chargers in 2004. “Much depends on being selected by a team in which quarterbacks thrive. History shows that isn’t the Jets.”

But there are signs these may not be your Same Old Jets. Joe Douglas, the team’s second-year general manager, helped put together a Super Bowl team in Philadelphia in 2018 and may be on his way to building a contender in New York.

The coaching staff that went 2-14 last season is gone, too, with the well-regarded defensive guru Rob Saleh, and his former offensive sidekick in San Francisco, Mike LaFleur, leading the Jets into 2021.

All of them fell in love with Wilson, who threw 33 touchdowns as a junior last fall, at his Pro Day last month.

And it appears they’re ready to select Wilson, regardless of what a Utah newspaper says.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Fischer