The Jets had four quarterbacks on the sidelines Sunday but only two active – and the one that wasn’t Zach Wilson was Mike White, a curious move by head coach Robert Saleh, it seemed.
Until after the game, when Saleh revealed that White will be QB2 going forward, with veteran Joe Flacco – who started the first three games while Zach Wilson was out – relegated to third-string status.
“If Zach ever gets hurt, we’re giving Mike the opportunity there,” Saleh said. “We felt like rather than just bump him all the way up, we’d allow him to practice and to prepare as the second quarterback. You’d hope that a No. 3 would do that anyway, but there’s a human element, so allowing him the opportunity prepare as if he’s the next man up.”
Both White and Flacco will be free agents at year’s end, and while the 37-year-old Flacco is closer to retirement than his Super Bowl MVP days, White, 27, could be a valuable part of the Jets’ future.
White started three games last season and went 1-2, his one win a shocker over eventual AFC Champion Cincinnati in Week 7, and our own Joe Benigno claimed that Flacco started over White earlier this season because the Jets were afraid White is better than Wilson.
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Maybe not so, but unlike the Eagles’ start of Nate Sudfeld in Week 17 of 2020 that possibly cost the Giants the NFC East title and got Doug Pederson fired, the Jets legitimately want to know what they have in White if Wilson is compromised again.
“Mike is a young guy and we have to figure out what we have in him, if that opportunity presents itself,” Saleh said.
As for the fourth quarterback, preseason hero Chris Streveler was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday, but then inactive on Sunday – a situation Saleh intimated was because of timing and “some things going into the weekend” with the quarterback room.
“We had some things going into the weekend, and you have to declare by Saturday at 4 pm,” Saleh said. “A couple things happened, and we ended up making the decision to deactivate him.”
Streveler has appeared in just seven NFL games, all with the Cardinals in 2020 and 2021, but was a dual-threat quarterback in the CFL before that, rushing for 1,167 yards and 22 TD in 35 games in 2018-19.
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The Patriots’ defense has struggled with mobile quarterbacks this season, and given that the Jets were compromised at running back with Breece Hall out for the season and James Robinson just arriving, prevailing theory this weekend was that they could have an offensive package for Streveler.
Instead, both he and Flacco, as well as recently-added RB Zonovan “Bam” Knight, were inactive, and Robinson and backup RB Ty Johnson combined for seven carries, the same amount of carries as de facto RB1 Michael Carter.
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