The Jets have finally made the move that most realistic and savvy Jets fans have been clamoring for since week three. They benched Zach Wilson. Which was the right move.

Almost.

The problem isn’t benching Zach Wilson. That had to be done. The problem is who they are benching him for. The Jets will turn to five-year career backup, Tim Boyle to try and go toe to toe with one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL today on a short week.

Boyle did not have a good debut for the Jets in garbage time on Sunday going 7 for 14 for 33 yards and an interception in a loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Boyle has three career starts on his resume, all with the Detroit Lions back in 2021. He went 0-3 in those starts and threw three touchdowns and six interceptions while completing almost 65% of his passes. Long story short, he is not a great quarterback.

He is one week fill in, bad preseason quarterback, who happens to be close to Aaron Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. He is not the savior of the season. Dating back to his days in college, Boyle has thrown 15 career touchdowns to 35 interceptions. That is ridiculously bad.

The fact is the Jets have a better starting option currently on the roster. Trevor Siemian is familiar with Hackett’s scheme and has been on the Jets roster since late September. Siemian is at least a capable signal caller.

Siemian will serve as the team’s backup QB on Friday with Zach Wilson getting demoted to third string. Saleh indicated the Jets will deal with Zach Wilson’s future in the offseason, but it is safe to say we have likely seen the last of him as a New York Jet. This was the first time Robert Saleh did not back Zach Wilson, which tells me the writing may be on the wall for the former number two overall pick.

Siemian is also not the savior of the Jets season, but he certainly gives them the best chance to win on the roster. Siemian has been a below average starter in this league, but he has been a starter. He has 30 career starts under his belt with a 13-17 record. He has thrown 42 touchdowns to 28 interceptions.

As to why they chose to go with Boyle Robert Saleh answered, "Just to give him an opportunity to see if we can do something with the offense."

The fact that the Jets options behind Aaron Rodgers going into the season were Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle and the only move they made once Rodgers went down was to sign Trevor Siemian to the practice squad has put them in the dire situation they find themselves in now.

Joe Douglas, Robert Saleh and Nathaniel Hackett are victims of their own hubris, and the player and fans are paying the price for it. They believed that they could fix Wilson on the fly, or even worse, they could win despite him, that they did nothing to address the glaring problem facing the team.

With the offensive line in shambles, the team without a reliable wide receiver after Garrett Wilson, who has not played his best football of late, and no running game to speak of, it will be a difficult position for whoever is behind center on Friday when the Jets host the Miami Dolphins.

At this point it might be too little too late to salvage the 2023 season. Without some sort of miracle (and I don’t mean the kind where a 40-year-old quarterback returns four months after tearing his Achilles and leads a rag-tag offense to glory), the Jets will once again find themselves on the outside of the playoffs looking in, despite having a top 5 defense in the league. In all likelihood they will also be looking at a top 10 draft pick as well. 

Jets’ Saleh won’t commit to starting QB after benching Wilson

The Zach Wilson experiment may be over.

Featured image via Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports