New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson was issued some extra homework this offseason.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett revealed the hilarious details during a conversation with NFL Insider Peter Schrager.
“We [a bunch of Jets coaches and Aaron Rodgers] had a little barbeque and we had this long conversation going through this whole process of movies,” Hackett explained on “The Season with Peter Schrager.”
“We’ve got Zach Wilson [and] Tim Boyle and they’re like what movies are those? You should have seen the list that we built for their summer… you know how there used to be a summer reading program? We created a summer movie list. So we ended up setting it up by genre. I mean there were so many things that they hadn’t seen.
The movies that like blew my mind, I mean it was funny because my son was there [15 years old] and he had never seen “The Terminator.” They looked at me and they’re like Arnold Schwarzenegger? What has he been in? Because they look at him and he was the governor of California. You forget these guys are so young. Oh my gosh, we need a major education.”
Rodgers and Wilson Getting Along Great in Jets QB Room
“I mean Shawshank Redemption? There were so many different things that we were like okay we have to make sure that we get all these things down and the guys had seen a couple of them,” Hackett said on the program. “We kind of went a little overboard but we figured it could last longer than the summer.”
Schrager jumped in and added, “I’m laughing because I’m picturing you’ve got like Zach Wilson who is 22. Chris Streveler who has been all over the world playing football. You’ve got this great room and then there’s Rodgers calm in the corner just probably throwing out [movie] titles.”
At the end of the 2022 season Jets head coach Robert Saleh advised his young passer to get away from football this offseason.
“Sit on a beach, read a book and reset” Saleh said via Brian Costello of the New York Post.
When the former No. 2 overall pick spoke to the media on June 9 for the first time since the season ended, Wilson seemed like a different man.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic told me on “The Boy Green Show” that it felt like the pressure and spotlight of his position had been lifted and he seemed looser.
Wilson Enjoying His Break From the Jets
In between learning the new offensive playbook and watching movie homework Wilson has been enjoying some nice R&R this offseason.
Nicolette Dellanno, Wilson’s girlfriend, shared photos on her Instagram on Thursday, June 23 that she was enjoying a vacation in the Bahamas with her man.
Saleh canceled the team’s scheduled three-day mandatory minicamp providing a 40-day break for his players ahead of training camp in the middle of July.
Wilson has been crowned the No. 2 quarterback behind Rodgers. Rosenblatt told me on “The Boy Green Show” that the only way that changes is if Wilson totally imploded during camp forcing the Jets to add another body to the room.