Broncos to acquire quarterback Zach Wilson from Jets

Three days before the NFL draft, the Broncos reached a deal to land another fallback option at quarterback. 

A source said Monday that the Broncos will acquire Zach Wilson from the New York Jets. Denver will send a sixth-round pick (No. 203) to the Jets and also get back a seventh-round selection (No. 256) in the draft, which runs Thursday through Saturday. The Broncos and the Jets will split the $5.5 million salary Wilson is due in 2024, with each team paying $2.75 million.

Denver has Jarrett Stidham as a fallback starter at quarterback for 2024 and now he will face competition from Wilson, who has struggled in three seasons since being the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL draft out of Brigham Young. The Broncos, who have the No 12 pick, are expected to take a quarterback at some point in the draft but the move on Wilson perhaps eliminates some desperation regarding the situation.

In three seasons with the Jets, Wilson started 33 of the 34 games he played, and they went 12-21 in his starts. He threw for 6,293 yards with 23 touchdown passes and 25 interceptions with a passer rating of 73.2. 

After Wilson faltered in his first two seasons, the Jets acquired star quarterback Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay to be the starter in 2023. But Rodgers suffered a season-ending torn Achilles injury on the fourth play of the season. Wilson then continued to have issues, with the Jets going 4-7 in his 11 starts, and it was apparent he no longer was a part of the team's future. 

Wilson had not reported this month to New York's voluntary workouts with the Jets looking to trade him. The Broncos hope he can emerge in the NFL under head coach Sean Payton.

“It’s a great opportunity to start fresh for Zach,’’ said longtime NFL analyst Joe Theismann, a former NFL star quarterback. “I know he didn’t play well in New York but Sean has done a terrific job (in developing quarterbacks). I think for Zach it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity unless he’s going to be a career backup. It’s all out in front of him. If Sean thought enough of him to make a deal, that gives you a chance. And now it’s up to him.”

Wilson will become the third quarterback on Denver's roster along with Stidham and Ben DiNucci, who spent 2023 on the practice squad. Stidham, who has just four starts in five NFL seasons, started the final two games of 2023 after Russell Wilson was benched. Russell Wilson was released last month and is now with Pittsburgh. 

Zach Wilson started against the Broncos in games in each of the past three seasons at Empower Field at Mile High, with the Jets winning two of them. In a 31-21 victory last October, he completed 19 of 26 passes for 199 yards and an interception.

“I liked him when he came out,’’ Theismann said. “I thought he could make all the throws. I thought he moved well. There were high expectations. I thought other than when he first came out, I don’t think (the Jets) believed in him. … Last year, the offense was built around Aaron Rodgers and then all of a sudden (Jets offensive coordinator and former Broncos head coach) Nathaniel Hackett had a different quarterback. … Then it was, he would make one mistake and everybody would jump down his throat.”

Virgil Carter, a former BYU star quarterback, has followed Wilson closely since his days with the Cougars. He doesn’t believe he got the best coaching in New York.

“Of all the quarterbacks to come out of BYU, nobody could throw the ball like Zach,’’ Carter said of a school that also has produced Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Ty Detmer. “And when I watched him play with the Jets, I would see a quarterback trying to make decisions with not the best opportunities. Now, he’s got a better coach on his side.”

Carter played in the NFL from 1968-73 and 1975-76. While with Cincinnati in 1970, he was the first quarterback to play in legendary coach Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense, when Walsh was then an assistant.

“(Payton) is one of the brain trusts, like we saw with Bill Walsh,’’ Carter said. “He’s a designer of plays and he knows what it takes to get guys open. (Wilson) has nothing to lose and can just go play football and they can mold him.”

Wilson becomes the highest-drafted player on the Broncos’ roster. The last time Denver had a player taken in the top two in the draft was when Von Miller, who went No. 2 to the Broncos in 2011, was on the roster from 2011-21.