I like Zach Wilson. He's like a cross between Drew Lock and Jared Goff.
He's such a gifted thrower of the football. More so than Goff. That's where he's more like Drew Lock. He's athletic like Lock. But he executes like Goff, and can be consistent throwing the football like Goff. But then he's also got some of those Drew Lock "too cute" tendencies.
Pressure is the biggest puzzle piece that's missing for Wilson. And it can be looked at several ways.
He fell apart under the strain of a close shootout against Hawaii late last year. Wasn't just the bad interception at the end. There were other throws, other decisions, just a general way that he was throwing the football, trying to feather and over-aim everything, a bit of nervousness in the pocket and looking rattled, mixed with bafflingly careless decision-making and inappropriate hero-ball. BYU have mostly been blowing out teams that are far worse than them this year, so we haven't gotten a real chance to see if that crumbling under pressure is something that comes back or if it was just the one game.
But then there's also literal pressure, and that's a huge missing puzzle piece. You hardly ever see the guy put under heavy duress in the pocket, and when you do it usually looks bad. He's had so much time and space behind that BYU line as he faces college defenses that sit back in coverage. I just feel like there's so much you don't know about how he's going to handle the trashy pockets he'll see in the NFL. That aspect of everything kind of reminds me of Jared Goff, like you start sending players at him and making him see ghosts, and watch as the execution aspect of it starts breaking down.
Anticipation is absolutely not a problem for Wilson. It's a big strength. I think when you give him an easy coverage to read, he can anticipate, use his eyes to lure defenders away, and execute the throw all day with great timing, good feet, and an excellent throw.
But how well does he actually SEE things at speed? That's my question. Because there are decisions he makes where you're like, OK you just didn't see that. You thought it was one thing and you stayed locked into that thought and never saw it turn into the other thing. This can be especially dangerous sometimes, because he likes to get so cute with his execution, acting like he's superman.
I'm a little disappointed I never got onto Wilson last year. I usually pick guys like him out way in advance. Just didn't have the exposure to him.