The playbook was drawn up for Rodgers, and Zach can only do a tiny fraction of what he does, so Hackett and co have been desperately recalibrating everything in order to find something that works. The coaches have basically confirmed this themselves in interviews.

This was supposed to be a red shirt type of year for Zach in that he would sit on the sidelines and watch Rodgers in action while breaking down the offense and receiving total age from a Hall of Famer at the position- similar to the way Rodgers worked with Favre. Yes his progress during practice was going to be measured, but the real “prove it” year was supposed to be 2024 where they would decide whether or not to pick up the 5th year option. By then they were hoping that Zach would be familiar enough with the revised playbook. Again, if you listen to the coaches during interviews this is more or less confirmed.

It has also been well documented (and it’s pretty much common sense) that Joe Douglas doesn’t want to give up on a 2nd overall pick, so 2024 would have not only gone a long way in determining Zach’s status as the primary backup, it’s been reported that they were seriously considering him to be the starter after Rodgers’s time with the Jets comes to an end based on the amount of progress he makes in 2023 and 2024.

The thing that fucks all this all up though is the fact that they didn’t go out and acquire a real veteran backup before the season started (and still won’t). That makes absolutely no sense on any level, and in the end it’s really unfair to Zach more than anyone else. He should not be the starting quarterback for the New York Jets right now, and it shows.