Peyton Manning rips Jets for failing QB Zach Wilson

Add Hall of Famer Peyton Manning to the list of people who believe the New York Jets are at least somewhat to blame for the failures of quarterback Zach Wilson across Wilson's first three NFL seasons. 

"The best way to really screw a young quarterback up is to change coordinators on him every single year, and it drives me crazy," Manning said about Wilson during an on-air interview on Denver Sports, as shared by Manny Gomez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com and Andrew Mason of Denver Sports. "Look, I was very fortunate. I had an old-school coach named Tom Moore who was the coordinator the entire time I was there [with the Indianapolis Colts]. Tom Brady had different coordinators. ...But it was the same system, right? (Bill) Belichick said, hey, we’re running the same exact system." 

Manning earned his second career Super Bowl ring featuring for the Denver Broncos and made his comments shortly after the Jets officially traded Wilson to Denver earlier this week. While with the Jets, Wilson had Mike LaFleur as an offensive coordinator across the signal-caller's first two campaigns. New York hired Nathaniel Hackett as LaFleur's replacement in early 2023 because of Hackett's relationship with Aaron Rodgers. 

Neither Hackett nor Wilson found long-term success last fall after Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles four offensive snaps into the 2023 regular-season opener. Rodgers should be good to go for the Jets by Week 1 this coming September. 

Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky previously ripped the Jets for playing Wilson as a rookie while Jets head coach Robert Saleh acknowledged in January the 24-year-old probably should've sat throughout the 2021 season. 

With Denver, Wilson is expected to spend the upcoming campaign as a third-string spectator while he learns under head coach Sean Payton. 

"I think for Zach, I think a reboot actually is good," Manning said. "Let’s just sort of start over, right? And let’s just let Sean Payton and his staff coach you and kind of start from ground zero, which I think might be just what Zach needs."

Manning revealed during the segment that he reached out to Wilson about the trade. 

"He sounds excited to be here, so hopefully it’ll be a good fit," Manning added. 

Wilson may never take a meaningful snap with the Broncos if they leave the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night with a rookie quarterback. It remains to be seen if Payton will even allow Wilson to compete for the club's primary backup job this coming summer.