Zach Wilson’s child steps in Jets return amongst Corridor of Fame Recreation’s greatest takeaways

CANTON, Ohio — The Jets opened the preseason on Thursday night time with a 21-16 loss to the Browns within the Corridor of Fame Recreation.

Most preseason video games have grow to be fairly meaningless when it comes to projecting the common season.

This one was additional meaningless as a result of the Jets sat nearly all of their key gamers.

Nonetheless, there have been some issues to remove from the sport.

Listed here are some ideas after watching the preseason opener:

1. The Jets should be thrilled with how Zach Wilson’s return to motion went.

Wilson’s confidence must be rebuilt after he utterly misplaced it final 12 months.

You may discuss all day about Aaron Rodgers’ mentorship, and there may be worth there, however that is actually about Wilson believing in himself once more.

So as to get there, Wilson must have some optimistic moments on the sphere and no massive negatives.

A 57-yard move to Malik Taylor gave him one thing to be ok with and he made no killer errors.

That could be a good begin for him.

Nobody is saying a preseason throw ought to land him in Canton (whereas in Canton!), however it was a child step.

That’s all of the Jets want from Wilson in August.

If the Jets want him in any respect this season, they should know that Wilson has his confidence again.

2. The Mekhi Becton state of affairs took one other unusual flip Thursday night time.

He stated he felt some discomfort in his proper knee and came out of the game after seven snaps.

He nonetheless performed on extra-point and field-goal makes an attempt, which was unusual.

It looks like there’s a push and pull between Becton and the group about how prepared he’s to play.

Becton talked about coping with his “new regular” after the sport.

Head coach Robert Saleh has talked about Becton’s want to achieve confidence in his proper knee, which he has injured in every of the previous two seasons.

Becton aggravated the Jets within the offseason when he blamed his harm final 12 months on enjoying proper deal with.

You may’t overreact to Thursday night time, however the Jets are going to wish to see extra from Becton within the remaining preseason video games to have any stage of belief in him.

It’s truthful to wonder if he’ll find yourself getting traded earlier than the season.

3. Whereas the veterans sat, the rookies acquired likelihood to play.

Second-round choose Joe Tippmann has not gotten a ton of reps in coaching camp practices however he led the offense Thursday with 46 snaps at middle.

Will McDonald, the first-round pick this year, confirmed some flashes of his velocity speeding the passer and registered one quarterback hit.

Fourth-round deal with Carter Warren benefitted from Becton leaving the sport early and performed 43 snaps at left deal with.

Operating again Israel Abanikanda confirmed his velocity on a landing run.

You bought the sense from Saleh’s postgame feedback that the Jets need to see extra than simply that velocity from Abanikanda.

4. It was very telling that second-year gamers Tony Adams and Jeremy Ruckert didn’t play.

That reveals how far they’ve are available in securing roles.

Adams was an undrafted free agent final 12 months who surprisingly made the team.

This 12 months, it appears like he’ll be the beginning security.

Ruckert had a quiet rookie season after lacking a lot of the offseason with an harm.

This 12 months, the tight finish had a very sturdy spring and that has continued into coaching camp.

He nonetheless has C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin in entrance of him, however the Jets clearly have Ruckert of their plans.