Jets GM Joe Douglas still 'open' to trading QB Zach Wilson, but acknowledges he 'is an asset'

Joe Douglas learned a lesson about quarterbacks in 2023, one that made him both double-down on the significant trade he swung in 2022, and prepare to part with a former top pick.

Zach Wilson's days in New York are likely numbered. The Jets are prepared to move on from the No. 2 pick of the 2021 draft if an interested party makes a worthwhile offer, but they aren't in a hurry.

"I know you guys talked to (Jets owner) Woody (Johnson) about Zach, and my thoughts are in line with Woody that Zach is an asset," the Jets' general manager said Friday. "At that same time, we're obviously open to trading Zach. There have been discussions. Nothing's really changed since we talked in Florida. We're open to trading him, there's just no news to report on that."

Wilson has chosen to stay away from the team during the Jets' voluntary workouts, an understandable decision given his status. Douglas didn't expound much on the matter, deferring to the fact it's a voluntary period, and a decision that is "for Zach to make if he wants to be here."

It's not difficult to see why Wilson wouldn't want to be there. He arrived as the anointed future of the Jets, was thrown into the fire behind a leaky offensive line, and repeatedly failed to show signs of progress. He likely entered 2023 expecting to spend it sitting behind Aaron Rodgers, the future Hall of Famer whom New York acquired in a blockbuster deal that put the Jets at the front of the 2023 hype train.

That train derailed when Rodgers suffered an Achilles injury on his fourth play of his Jets career -- and threw Wilson back into the blaze, which quickly became a disastrous inferno.

If New York needed proof Wilson wasn't the long-term answer, they received plenty of it in 2023. Now, they're looking