What Zach Wilson’s new head coach thinks of him

Zach Wilson has a fan in his new head coach, Mike McDaniel.

For the Miami Dolphins, Wilson was a “direct, calculated target” in free agency, McDaniel told reporters Monday at the NFL owners’ meetings, per the Palm Beach Post.

Wilson signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins this offseason to backup starter Tua Tagovailoa.

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For Wilson, McDaniel and quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell made Miami “a great fit,” as the Deseret News previously reported.

On Monday, reporters asked McDaniel why the Dolphins chose Wilson, rather than pursuing a backup with more experience.

“Well, to be quite frank,” McDaniel said, “it’s an inexact science, but we thought that he was the best option for us.”

What Mike McDaniel sees in Zach Wilson

McDaniel was the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers when Wilson was drafted by the New York Jets in 2021. The 49ers were scouting quarterbacks as they looked for their next franchise quarterback.

A month before the draft, San Francisco traded up to the third overall pick. McDaniel remembers looking at Wilson during the draft process.

“I watched every snap of his collegiate play. He was a phenomenal talent that in my opinion didn’t have reps in an NFL pocket yet. At BYU, he was launching it from about 10-11 yards deep, and you’re not in the phone booth. And so for my estimation, there was going to be some nuance to growth to his game. I think it close to excel that early in that new form of football that he was playing. That’s powerful to me,” McDaniel said.

Wilson ended up getting drafted by the Jets second overall, and with the next pick in the draft, the 49ers picked Trey Lance.

Both quarterbacks were later traded away from their original teams.

Wilson went to the Denver Broncos, where he spent the past season as the third-string quarterback and didn’t play at all.

Lance was traded to the Dallas Cowboys and could be moving to the CFL, according to TSN football insider Dave Naylor.

“There’s very few people that know what it’s like to be drafted high in New York City,” McDaniel said. “And so then to see his resolve, to see where he’s digested the whole situation. It’s like anything for all of us. OK, if you have adversity in your life, that can be a source of strength and growth or it could be a source of, all right, that’s what defines you and you can’t get over that.”

McDaniel considers Wilson “an exciting prospect.”

“What I see in Zach is the experience of being the second pick in the draft, being the starter week one, and then not fulfilling the rookie contract, that is behind him. So that, to me, that’s an exciting prospect. Because you can’t put a measurement on that human ability that is huge at the quarterback position,” he said.