This is the time of year that New York Jets fans have something they lose once the season kicks off: hope.
With NFL free agency beginning officially Wednesday (under league rules, teams were permitted to negotiate with unrestricted free agents for two days prior to the start of the signing period), the Jets signed quarterback Justin Fields. In doing so, they made a clear statement about their change in direction under new head coach Aaron Glenn.
Eager to try something different after their failed two-year experiment with former Green Bay Packers legend Aaron Rodgers, the Jets accomplished that by investing in Fields.
At only 26 years old, Fields is 15 years younger than Rodgers and significantly more mobile than the future Hall of Famer. Fact is, Fields is among the league’s best quarterbacks on the move. And while he’s not in Rodgers’ league as a passer, Fields has shown flashes of his potential while playing previously for the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively.
Selected 11th overall by the Bears in the 2021 NFL draft, Fields lasted only three seasons in Chicago amid sweeping changes in the front office and on the field. Traded to Pittsburgh, Fields began last season as Russell Wilson’s primary backup, and he went 4-2 as a starter while playing for the injured Wilson.
Fields’ performance, however, wasn’t good enough to convince Steelers management that it should stick with him, leading to his latest new beginning in New York. For the third time in the NFL, Fields is starting over, and the Jets and their long-suffering fans hope he’s ready to maximize his potential.
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When many NFL observers watch Fields, they see a former first-rounder who’s a journeyman after only four seasons. Quarterback guru Quincy Avery sees something different.
For years, Avery has trained Fields, who’s eager to finally prove he’s capable of being a franchise quarterback and the main catalyst for an organization’s revival. The woebegone Jets need one, so Fields will have the canvas he covets.
“This is a great situation for him,” Avery told Andscape on the phone Wednesday. “[Fans] want guys to step in the league from college and be great right away. They want them to become stars immediately. But for a lot of guys, it just doesn’t happen that way.
“They need time and to find the right place for them. And it definitely doesn’t happen that way for a lot of quarterbacks. That’s why you see so many quarterbacks have success after they leave [the teams that drafted them].”
After the group that drafted Fields in Chicago was ousted, new general manager Ryan Poles determined that Caleb Williams was a better fit for his vision of the Bears’ future. Poles sent Fields to the Steelers for a sixth-round pick and used the No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 draft to take Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner from USC.
As a rookie, Williams struggled. The Bears went 5-12.
Would the Bears have fared better with Fields under center last season? Possibly. What’s certain is that Fields had hoped for a longer run in Chicago, Avery said.
“We all wanted it to work out for him in Chicago, for that to be a good situation where he could find success,” Avery said. “We didn’t think he would be in that type of situation in Pittsburgh with him and Russell both there. Now, he’s got a chance to be part of building something new.”
New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn speaks during the NFL scouting combine at the Indiana Convention Center on Feb. 25.
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Rookie head coach Aaron Glenn is the new director of a long-running rebuilding project.
In the last 14 seasons, the Jets have had one winning season. They last qualified for the playoffs during the 2010-11 season. And they’re coming off a two-year union with Rodgers that, even putting the most charitable spin on things, was disastrous both on and off the field.
The level-headed Glenn returns to the organization that drafted him. A Pro Bowl cornerback, Glenn spent his first eight years as a player with the Jets, and he had a distinguished 15-year playing career overall. After retiring, Glenn rejoined the Jets as a scout.
By all accounts, Glenn has a keen eye for evaluating players, and he was all in on Fields, who received $30 million guaranteed as part of a two-year, $40-million contract. Hoping to support the team’s presumptive starting passer and improve an offense that ranked 24th in total yards per game and 24th in scoring, Glenn hired former Lions passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand to be the Jets’ offensive playcaller. Great move, Avery said.
Fields will partner with an offensive coordinator “who’s a very underrated coach, and a guy who will put Justin in a situation in the offense where he can really get the most out of his talents,” Avery said. “He threw the ball well with the Steelers.
“He just didn’t get that many opportunities to throw because they wanted a more conservative approach. He’ll get more opportunities now, which, hopefully, will help him put down some roots. We really hope for that.”
Mostly, Jets fans have learned to live without hope. But finally, perhaps Glenn and Fields are the right tandem to help keep it alive.
