New York Jets QB Zach Wilson likely out until Week 4; Joe Flacco to start season opener vs. Baltimore Ravens

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson will miss at least three games as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery, the team announced Wednesday.

Initially, he was expected to miss one or two games. Explaining the decision, coach Robert Saleh said Wilson won't play until Week 4 «at the earliest.» The Jets face the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road that week.

This means the Jets will open the season with Joe Flacco at quarterback, starting Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens — the team that drafted him in 2008 — at MetLife Stadium.

«We're going to make sure mind and body are 100% and make sure we do right by him,» Saleh said of Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in 2021.

Saleh also said that playing Wilson now is «not worth the risk. There's the knee element. There's the mind element. There's the practice element. There are a whole lot of things other than the knee.»

Wilson hasn't suffered a setback, according to Saleh.

On Monday, Saleh left open the possibility of starting Wilson, saying the second-year quarterback «looked good» in a side workout that day. In truth, Wilson never was a serious option. That was only gamesmanship. He's only 22 days removed from arthroscopic knee surgery and still hasn't practiced with the team.

At the time of the diagnosis — the injury occurred Aug. 12 in a preseason game — it was deemed a two- to four-week injury, sources said. Wilson suffered a meniscus tear and a bone bruise on a noncontact play, the same knee he sprained last season — a four-week, non-surgical injury.

Saleh has said on multiple occasions that Wilson will return to the lineup as soon as he's healthy. He has missed 13 practices and two preseason games.

They could have placed him on short-term injured