Zach Wilson tells how he feels about Jets acquiring Aaron Rodgers

• NFL

Zach Wilson spoke extremely highly of Aaron Rodgers in his first public comments about Rodgers since the former NFL MVP joined the New York Jets. In the 2021 NFL draft, the Jets used their second overall pick to select Wilson.

But Wilson's NFL career started in a pretty rough way, which led to the Jets searching for a new starting quarterback this offseason. Wilson, who is 23, is trying to draw positives from the entire situation as he is hoping to learn from Rodgers and get his career back on the right track.

"It's interesting, right? Of course I wish things had gone differently the past two years and I would've played amazing. But I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Aaron knows this, but he's someone I've looked up to since I can remember playing football.

So, I'm very appreciative of him and how much he is willing to help me because he really doesn't need to be that vocal. He honestly truly is an amazing friend, and obviously such an amazing quarterback, so I am learning a lot of football.

Not just from him, but (offensive coordinator Nathaniel) Hackett, (passing game coordinator Todd) Downing, our whole offensive staff. I've been really enjoying it," Wilson said, via the NFL website.

Wilson hoping to learn from Rodgers

The Jets have claimed for months that benching Wilson doesn't mean that his career in New York is over.

Rodgers is 39 and there are no guarantees for how many years he will play in the league. For Wilson, it would be perfect to backup Rodgers and then again be the Jets' starting quarterback in the future. "Of course I would like to be the guy, so at first, you know, you're not always happy about that.

But I'm extremely psyched that of any quarterback they could've brought in, it was him. I'd been talking with him this offseason. I was with him early in the offseason before any of this was even getting talked about. So we got to spend some time together. It was really cool to see how it all went together," Wilson said.