As New York’s newest sensation Mike White prepares for his next NFL start, Zach Wilson continues to work his way back to being the Jets starter.
But as of now, as White and Gang Green prepare for a divisional matchup with the Bills, Wilson is still not ready to suit up on Sundays due to the PCL injury he suffered in Week 7.
“Right now, I’m definitely not 100 percent still,” Wilson said when speaking to reporters on Thursday, the first time doing so since the injury. “That’s why I’m going through this week of practices, just trying to get back to feeling normal and going through everything. When you take a couple weeks off and don’t run, and even this week is a big feel week for me as far as having the knee feel like normal. A little bit of scrambling and moving around, it just doesn’t feel 100 percent there, and that’s why we’re doing a lot of this.”
Wilson is back at practice and nearing a return, but White is still the starter for Week 10 after bouncing back from the forearm injury he suffered in last week’s loss to the Colts, which forced him to exit the game in the first half after an efficient start. Wilson, initially expected to miss 2-4 weeks, could be ready by Week 11 for another AFC East matchup, this one against the Dolphins.
“Obviously I’d like to be back quicker, but as far as the knee injury, I think it’s probably a better one that you could have hoped for as far as being able to recover and get back,” Wilson said. “Just trying to do everything I can in the training room to make it feel as good as I can.”
While Wilson has been out, White has been the talk of the town, starting with his historic 405-yard performance in a surprising win against the Bengals. If that narrative continues against Buffalo, it would become even more difficult to justify going back to Wilson, who, despite being the second overall pick and the franchise’s hopeful future, was leading the league in interceptions at the time of his injury, and held a quarterback rating of just 63.5.
For Wilson, his focus isn’t on getting the starting job back. He needs to get healthy for that to even be an option, and he’s not there just yet.
“My time will come,” Wilson said. “I just have to work on keep getting healthy and taking my practice reps very seriously, and just get back to the groove of playing.
“I can’t even worry about that. I just have to go to practice every single day, learn from [White’s] reps, talk to those guys, and just control what I can control.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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