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Zach Wilson and The Worst Passer Rating In The NFL

When the Jets drafted Zach Wilson, the hope was that the kid from BYU would end a long line of Jets draft busts. Because after having their hopes dashed by Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, and then Sam Darnold, the Jets were due for some good luck. Right?

Yes, from 2009 to 2011, Sanchez had the worst passer rating in the NFL. And from ’13 to ’15, Smith’s 72.3 passer rating was the only rating in the 70s among all passers with at least 700 attempts. When the Jets drafted Darnold, the hope was “third time’s the charm.” Instead, it was a third straight highly touted quarterback prospect — taken as the second quarterback in his draft — who had the lowest passer rating in the NFL after three years.

So the Jets once again hit the reset button on the franchise quarterback game of life. Again, the Jets would have their pick of all quarterbacks in the draft but one: this time it was not Matthew Stafford or EJ Manuel or Baker Mayfield that the Jets were missing out on, but Trevor Lawrence. And surely, certainly, the results couldn’t be that bad again.

Right?

Well, no, they didn’t get the same result. Somehow, it got even worse. As a rookie, the three Jets ghosts of quarterbacks past had some success: Sanchez and the Jets made the playoffs, Smith’s Jets finished 8-8 and he tied for the NFL lead with five game-winning fourth quarter drives, and Darnold — as a 21-year-old rookie — had a red hot finish to the season. Wilson? He didn’t wait for the 3-year average; he quickly posted the lowest passer rating in the NFL. More concerning, he looked worse than his unheralded quarterback teammates. Wilson took 65% of the Jets dropbacks, but he had just 59% of the passing yards, 45% of the passing touchdowns, and took 83% of the sacks.

As a follow-up to that rookie campaign, it had to get better, right? The Jets surrounded Wilson with a strong supporting cast this year, and he responded with… another season with the worst passer rating in the NFL. He has been benched twice. He completed an anemic 54.5% of his passes, giving him the two worst completion percentage seasons of any quarterback the last four seasons. He is far below average in touchdown rate, interception rate, and sack rate. Wilson’s only positive stat is his yards per completion average, which was heavily influence by some great YAC by his teammates (he ranks 3rd in the NFL in YAC per completion, at 6.1; this pass to Breece Hall went for 79 yards).

And so the Jets are now in the unfathomable position of having the quarterback with the lowest passer rating in the NFL for the third straight season, and the fifth time in 10 years.

YearTeamQuarterbackPasser Rating
2022NYJZach Wilson72.8
2021NYJZach Wilson69.7
2020NYJSam Darnold72.7
2019CINAndy Dalton78.3
2018ARIJosh Rosen66.7
2017CLEDeShone Kizer60.5
2016NYJRyan Fitzpatrick69.6
2015DENPeyton Manning67.9
2014JAXBlake Bortles69.5
2013NYJGeno Smith66.5
2012KANMatt Cassel66.7
2011JAXBlaine Gabbert65.4
2010CARJimmy Clausen58.4
2009OAKJaMarcus Russell50
2008CLEDerek Anderson66.5
2007NYJKellen Clemens60.9
2006OAKAndrew Walter55.8
2005CHIKyle Orton59.7
2004MIAA.J. Feeley61.7
2003CHIKordell Stewart56.8
2002DETJoey Harrington59.9
2001CINJon Kitna61.1
2000CINAkili Smith52.8
1999ARIJake Plummer50.8
1998SDGRyan Leaf39
1997CARKerry Collins55.7
1996SEARick Mirer56.6
1995TAMTrent Dilfer60.1
1994WASHeath Shuler59.6
1993WASMark Rypien56.3
1992SEAStan Gelbaugh52.9
19912TMJeff Kemp55.7
1990NWEMarc Wilson61.6
1989DALTroy Aikman55.7
1988TAMVinny Testaverde48.8
1987PITMark Malone46.7
1986INDJack Trudeau53.5
1985BUFVince Ferragamo50.8
1984KANTodd Blackledge59.2
1983NYGScott Brunner54.3
1982BUFJoe Ferguson56.3
1981CHIVince Evans51.1
1980NYGPhil Simms58.9
1979TAMDoug Williams52.5
1978SFOSteve DeBerg40
1977NYGJoe Pisarcik42.3
1976BUFGary Marangi30.8
1975NORArchie Manning44.3
1974CLEMike Phipps46.7
1973NYGNorm Snead45.8
1972NWEJim Plunkett45.7
1971CHIBobby Douglass37
1970PITTerry Bradshaw30.4
1969BUFJack Kemp53.2
1969PITDick Shiner60.3
1968BUFDan Darragh33
1968PHINorm Snead51.8
1967HOUPete Beathard44.2
1967ATLRandy Johnson47.8
1966MIADick Wood30.6
1966ATLRandy Johnson47.8
1965DENJohn McCormick43.5
1965DETMilt Plum51.2
1964BUFJack Kemp50.9
1964NYGY.A. Tittle51.6
1963BOSBabe Parilli52.1
1963WASNorm Snead58.1
1962OAKCotton Davidson36.1
1962PITBobby Layne56.2
1961DENGeorge Herring30
1961WASNorm Snead51.6
1960BUFJohnny Green54.1
1960CHIZeke Bratkowski40.4
1959CRDKing Hill46.2
1958CHIEd Brown51
1957CHIEd Brown44.4
1956PITTed Marchibroda49.4
1955CRDLamar McHan34.8
1954CRDLamar McHan32.4
1953GNBTobin Rote32.4
1952DTXFrank Tripucka27.8
1951PHIAdrian Burk44.5
1950GNBTobin Rote26.7

More remarkably, unless Steelers rookie Kenny Pickett has an ugly finish to the season, Wilson is about to be the first quarterback since 1970 to post multiple seasons with the worst passer rating in the NFL! And he’s doing it in consecutive seasons, giving him Zach-to-Zach titles.

The last quarterback to finish with the worst passer rating in the NFL in multiple years was Norm Snead, who did it in 1973, and in the pre-merger NFL seasons of 1968 and 1961.

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