Jets hopeful Zach Wilson avoided season-ending injury; MRI scheduled for Saturday: report

The New York Jets are hopeful the organization has avoided the worst-case scenario following Zach Wilson’s knee injury in Friday night’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Wilson, who the Jets drafted with the second overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, exited New York’s first preseason game after injuring his right knee. 

“Early indications” are that Wilson reinjured his posterior cruciate ligament — he missed four games with a PCL injury his rookie season — and may miss just a few weeks, according to ESPN.

Head coach Robert Saleh told reporters after the game Wilson will undergo an MRI Saturday to determine the severity of the injury, adding Wilson’s ACL is “supposed to be intact.” 

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“I’m going to let the MRI play out, and we’ll figure it out,” Saleh said Saturday. 

Wilson hurt his knee in the second quarter after escaping the pocket and trying to cut back up the field on his scramble. 

“Just run your butt out of bounds,” Saleh said after the game. “He got a little greedy, he wanted to get more. It’s a new sod, so the turf wasn’t exactly as firm as you want it to be.”

The Jets are counting on Wilson taking the next step as he enters year two, with the Jets upgrading their offensive weapons around Wilson in the offseason. 

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“It’s awful. Seeing not even just your quarterback but one of your brothers, in general, go down,” first-round draft pick Sauce Gardner said after the game. “Because you know, at the end of the day, he’s giving it his all. He wants to be out there with us.”

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A major injury to Wilson would be a devastating start to the season for the Jets, who are hoping to make big strides in Saleh’s second season as head coach. New York has already been hit with the injury bug early in the preseason, with first-round draft pick Mekhi Becton out for the season with a serious injury. 

“At the end of the day, it sucks,” Saleh said Tuesday, according to the New York Post, “for lack of a better word. But no one cares. You gotta get up, get ready, next man up, all those dumb clichés in these moments.”

The Jets have veteran quarterback Joe Flacco and second-year pro Mike White on the roster. Both players started games for the Jets during the 2021 season.