Zach Wilson to Return to Starting Lineup on Sunday

 Guess whose back Jets fans? 

That's right, Zach Wilson is set to make his return to the starting lineup on Sunday when the Jets visit the 2-8 Houston Texans. 

In addition, ESPN's Rich Cimini reported Tuesday that Mike White and Joe Flacco have both been placed on the COVID-19 list, with White having tested positive, and Flacco, who admitted to be unvaccinated, was in close contact. 

That means Josh Johnson will back-up Wilson. 

It has been a bizarre season for the Jets in the quarterback room. 

The Jets entered the season with all intentions of Wilson starting every game this year, taking his lumps as a rookie as he gets accustomed to the game. However, he not only struggled, he REALLY struggled. Nine interceptions in six games, before suffering a strained PCL in his right kneed that sidelined him for four weeks. 

Mike White came in and was amazing in his starting debut against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was so good that his jersey was sent to the Hall of Fame, and there was serious question as to whether the Jets had a quarterback controversy. 

Then White got hurt against Indianapolis. Then, White played poorly against the Buffalo Bills. Robert Saleh blamed the fans and media for throwing White to the curb, only to do exactly that when he started Flacco last week against Miami. Despite a huge touchdown pass to Elijah Moore, Flacco was fairly ineffective agianst Miami. 

Now, Wilson is back. 

Not surprising the Jets went this route. They didn't want White to start against Miami, risk seeing him light up the Dolphins only to find themselves in another quarterback debate with Wilson about to come off the injury list. Plus, they had to justify (in their minds) trading a sixth-round pick for Flacco a few weeks ago. 

So after a lackluster effort against Miami,  it made it easier to go back to Wilson. 

Wilson has a lot of work to do. He has not looked good. His QBR is 27.0, which ranks 31st out of 33 quarterbacks in the NFL.  These final seven games are going to be critical in his development if he is indeed worthy of being a Number 2 overall selection. 

In short, the Jets need to see what Wilson can do. They need to see if sitting for the past four weeks has helped clear his mind, maybe he picked something up having to watch both White and Flacco play over the last month. 

We'll see. The Jets are in the underbelly the schedule with the Texans, Eagles, Saints, Dolphins, and Jaguars all coming up.