Every player is different.

For me, my preference was to play and play as much as I could because that’s what I enjoyed doing. Preseason, regular season, post-season, it didn’t really matter. If I am going to practice all week and put in the work then I want the reward of playing. I do understand the other side of it from a coach and personnel perspective.

If you are the head coach or a general manager and you have a franchise quarterback or a quarterback you feel comfortable with leading your team to the postseason, then you want to be careful. But I think you have to look at the situation with Zach Wilson. For him, it hasn’t clicked yet for whatever reason. I think there are a lot of reasons at play and it’s not that he can’t play but that he needs reps. He needs reps with the guys he is going to play with in the regular season.

The risk that you take as a coach playing your starters is they run the risk of getting hurt. That has never changed historically but you have to play them to build some chemistry and continuity with his teammates. Snap counts, route-running, leadership, establishing a presence in the huddle, and just getting familiar with the environment are important. With just one year as the starter, yeah that helps, but in my opinion, it doesn’t get you comfortable enough.

This makes every rep you take an important rep as far as leading your team.

You run the risk of getting hurt but to me, getting valuable reps and chemistry outweighs the chance of getting hurt. You obviously don’t wish that on any player but it is important to get that much-needed chemistry with the players but especially your receivers.