Zach Wilson — NFL Quarterback Profile, Career Timeline, and Everything Worth Knowing
The Quick Version
Zachary Kapono Wilson, born August 3, 1999, in Draper, Utah, is a professional NFL quarterback currently signed with the New Orleans Saints. He is 26 years old, stands 6-foot-2, and weighs 214 pounds. The Saints are his fourth team in four seasons. Before New Orleans, he spent three years with the New York Jets (who drafted him second overall in 2021), one year in Denver, and one year in Miami. In five NFL seasons, he’s started 33 games, thrown for 6,325 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 25 interceptions. His career passer rating sits at 73.1.
Draper, Utah to the NFL — Growing Up Wilson
Wilson grew up as one of six children in a household that already knew football. His father, Mike Wilson, played at the University of Utah. His mother Lisa, who has since built a following sharing health and cooking content on Instagram, kept the family grounded through Zach’s rise. The siblings — Whitney, Micah, Josh, Isaac, and Sophie — stayed close. Family vacations to Hawaii pop up on Instagram regularly, and Micah has appeared alongside Zach at various offseason events.
The middle name Kapono is Hawaiian, a nod to his father’s heritage. It means “righteous” in the Hawaiian language. Wilson was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though reporting from Distractify noted he doesn’t attend regularly. It comes up because people ask — Utah, BYU, LDS all connect in the public imagination — but it’s a minor thread in his actual story.
At Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Wilson was the kind of quarterback that makes college coaches nervous about film study. As a senior, he threw for 2,986 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 752 yards and eight more scores. The Chargers finished 11-1, reached the 5A state semifinals, and won a region championship. He was named 5A MVP and First-Team All-State. He also played varsity basketball, which tells you something about his athleticism before any football metric does.
He originally committed to Boise State. Then he didn’t. He flipped to BYU, which — in hindsight — changed everything.
What He Did at BYU Is Still Underappreciated
Wilson played three seasons for the Cougars, starting 28 of 30 games. His career numbers: 566-of-837 passing for 7,652 yards, 56 touchdowns, and a 67.6 completion percentage. He also ran 212 times for 642 yards and 15 rushing scores. Those are not inflated numbers against weak competition — BYU played a legitimate independent schedule in 2020 and handled it.
The 2020 season is what put him in the conversation. He completed 73.5 percent of his passes for 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns with three interceptions. That completion rate broke a BYU single-season record that had stood since 1983 — held by Steve Young. BYU finished 11-1 and ranked No. 11 in the final AP Poll, the program’s best finish since 1996. Wilson won the Co-Polynesian Player of the Year award, was a Manning Award finalist, placed eighth in Heisman voting, and was named the Cougars’ offensive MVP in both the 2019 Hawaii Bowl and the 2020 Boca Raton Bowl.
He became the highest-drafted player in BYU history. That record still stands.
The 2021 NFL Draft and What the Jets Were Buying
Trevor Lawrence went first to Jacksonville. Wilson went second to New York. The Jets signed him to a four-year, $35.15 million fully guaranteed contract with a $22.9 million signing bonus and a fifth-year option. At the time, the logic was sound: Wilson had elite arm talent, legitimate mobility, and the college numbers to justify the pick. General manager Joe Douglas called him a franchise quarterback. The fanbase believed it.
What followed was more complicated.
Three Seasons in New York — The Full Picture
Wilson’s rookie year (2021) produced 2,334 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and 11 interceptions across 13 starts, with a 69.7 passer rating. He threw his ninth interception in just his fifth start — becoming the fourth quarterback in NFL history, after DeShone Kizer, Zach Mettenberger, and Blake Bortles, to be picked off in each of his first five games. A knee injury in Week 7 against New England ended his season early. The Jets went 4-13.
2022 was interrupted before it started. Wilson suffered a non-contact bone bruise and meniscus tear in the preseason opener against Philadelphia, missing the first three games. He finished with 1,688 yards, six touchdowns, and seven interceptions in nine starts. Some games were genuinely bad. Some showed the flashes that got him drafted. He caught a receiving touchdown against Pittsburgh — the first Jets quarterback to do that in franchise history — which is exactly the kind of strange, memorable thing that defines his career.
2023 was his best year and his strangest. Aaron Rodgers arrived in New York, was supposed to be the answer, and then tore his Achilles on the fourth snap of Monday Night Football against the Bills. Wilson stepped in, went 14-of-21 for 140 yards in a 22-16 win, and got promoted back to starter. He had strong stretches — most notably a 28-of-39, 245-yard, 2-touchdown performance against Kansas City where he overcame a 17-0 deficit to tie the game before a fourth-quarter fumble handed it back to the Chiefs. He put together wins over the Eagles and Giants and led a 58-yard game-tying drive against New York with no timeouts in 24 seconds.
His best single game: December 10, 2023, against Houston. He completed 27 of 36 passes for 301 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 117.9 passer rating — a career high. He won AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Then, the following week against Miami, he took a hit and suffered a concussion. He never played another game for the Jets.
His full Jets line: 33 starts, 566-of-993 passing, 6,293 yards, 23 touchdowns, 25 interceptions. On April 22, 2024, the Jets traded him to Denver along with a 2024 seventh-round pick (No. 256, Nick Gargiulo) in exchange for a 2024 sixth-round pick (No. 203). That pick eventually became Will Reichard, a kicker, via Minnesota. The Jets moved on for a sixth-round kicker pick. That’s the bluntest summary of how the front office viewed his ceiling by then.
Denver and Miami — Two Quiet Seasons
Wilson never played a regular-season snap for the Denver Broncos in 2024. Bo Nix was the starter. Wilson was the backup. He had a strong preseason — including a three-touchdown performance against Arizona in Week 3 that generated brief optimism — but once the regular season started, he stood on the sideline. Denver released him in March 2025.
Miami signed him to a one-year deal in March 2025 worth $6 million guaranteed, with a ceiling around $10 million through bonuses. He was brought in as insurance behind Tua Tagovailoa. Tyreek Hill publicly said he believed Wilson could be a starting quarterback in the NFL. That got attention. It didn’t change his playing time. Wilson appeared in four games for the Dolphins in 2025, completing 6 of 11 passes for 32 yards. His final appearance of the season came January 4, 2026, against New England. He became a free agent in March 2026.
New Orleans Saints, 2026
On March 25-26, 2026, the Saints signed Wilson to a one-year contract. General manager Mickey Loomis made the announcement. Wilson is QB2 in a room that includes starter Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler. He will compete with Rattler for the backup spot.
He is 26 years old. That matters more than it might seem. Most quarterbacks who wash out of starting roles by 26 don’t return — but some do. Gardner Minshew made multiple stops before landing real minutes. Chad Henne backed up Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City for years and played when it counted. Wilson has the arm and the mobility; the question has always been consistency under pressure and processing speed when defenses disguise coverage. If Shough struggles or gets hurt, Wilson gets a live look. The Saints have a legitimate offensive line and a receiving room that’s not embarrassing. It’s a reasonable situation.
Career Statistics
| Year | Team | G | GS | CMP | ATT | PCT | YDS | TD | INT | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | NYJ | 13 | 13 | 213 | 383 | 55.6% | 2,334 | 9 | 11 | 69.7 |
| 2022 | NYJ | 9 | 9 | 132 | 242 | 54.5% | 1,688 | 6 | 7 | 72.8 |
| 2023 | NYJ | 12 | 11 | 221 | 368 | 60.1% | 2,271 | 8 | 7 | 77.2 |
| 2024 | DEN | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2025 | MIA | 4 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 54.5% | 32 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | 38 | 33 | 572 | 1,004 | 57.0% | 6,325 | 23 | 25 | 73.1 | |
He also carries the ball — 96 career rushes for 499 yards and five touchdowns. His mobility is real, not just a scouting note.
Nicolette Dellanno — Marriage and Personal Life
Wilson and Nicolette Dellanno were first spotted together at a New York Yankees game in June 2022. She’s from New Jersey and works as a designer at Morgan & Co. in Manhattan. They kept things relatively quiet for two years before Wilson proposed during a trip to Italy’s Amalfi Coast in summer 2024. His Instagram caption: “To the love of my life, I never truly understood what love was until I met you. You’re not just my partner, but my best friend and my everything. I can’t wait to make a lifetime of memories with you, Nic.”
They married on June 28, 2025, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Wilson wore a tuxedo. Dellanno wore an off-the-shoulder gown. The reception was held at the Rainbow Room. His mother, Lisa Wilson, posted over 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes video to Instagram. Guests included former Broncos teammate Jarrett Stidham and his wife Kennedy. Wilson was 25; Dellanno was 23.
Contracts and Endorsements
His rookie deal with the Jets was four years, $35.15 million, fully guaranteed, with a $22.9 million signing bonus. His 2025 Miami contract paid $6 million guaranteed with upside to $10 million in incentives. The 2026 Saints deal is one year; specific financial terms haven’t been publicly confirmed.
On the endorsement side, he’s worked with Giorgio Armani, Verizon, Bose, Nike, and BMW. His net worth is estimated somewhere between $5 and $10 million depending on the source — a reasonable range given his rookie contract and subsequent deals, offset by the relatively modest backup money in Denver and Miami.
Why the Jets Years Went the Way They Did
The honest answer involves more than one cause. Wilson changed offensive coordinators four times in three seasons with the Jets. His first two years featured one of the worst offensive lines in the league — he was sacked or hit constantly, and his pocket instincts got worse because standing in the pocket kept getting him hurt. His processing speed under pressure has always been the knock. When he had clean pockets, his numbers improved. The 2023 Kansas City game is the cleanest evidence: protected, given time, he was genuinely good.
There’s also a real mechanical issue that showed up on film. Against zone coverage, particularly Cover 2, Wilson would lock onto his first read and either throw into coverage or take a sack. He never fully solved it at the NFL level. Whether that’s coachable at this point is the actual question hanging over his career — not talent, which was always there.
He turns 27 in August 2026. The Saints have no pressure on him to start. If he plays well in camp and the preseason, he has an argument. If Shough goes down, Wilson will get a real audition in a market that doesn’t have the same media pressure New York carried. That’s not nothing. It might be exactly what he needs.
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