As many teams throughout the league are still scrambling to find their QB throughout free agency, the Jets got lucky and managed to land Justin Fields to be their QB1 essentially.

While Justin Fields was on vacation in Dubai, the Jets and Fields agreed to a two-year deal worth $40 million, with $30 million guaranteed.  Fields came out in the same draft as Zach Wilson, who the Jets opted to draft second overall over Fields, who wound up going 11th overall to the Chicago Bears.  Since 2021, the Jets have had six starting QBs under center, can the Jets redeem themselves after missing out on Fields in 2021?  In the end, both Zach Wilson and Justin Fields had disastrous tenures with their drafted teams as they only lasted three seasons with their drafted teams.  

With Caleb Williams entering the 2024 draft as the next generational talent out of USC, the Bears traded Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, making way for Williams.  Many people throughout the league were torn on the decision and thought that Fields could lead a franchise if surrounded with the right pieces.  The Bears ultimately decided it was best to move on from Fields and draft Caleb Williams with the first pick, which they received from a trade with the Carolina Panthers the year prior.  

Now that Fields was traded to the Steelers, he was playing under a coaching staff with more consistency and stability.  Something that he didn’t have in Chicago as Matt Nagy was fired after Fields rookie season.  Making it harder for Fields to make the transition from college to the pros with the change-up of coaching.  Fields now had an opportunity to revive his career, and re-learn the QB position, along with also competing for the Steelers’ starting QB position against Russell Wilson.

After training camp, Russell Wilson ultimately won the starting job, but a calf injury sidelined Wilson for the first six weeks of the season, giving Fields playing time as he started the first six games for the Steelers.  Fields wound up going 4-2 as the starter while throwing 5 touchdowns to one interception with a completion percentage of 65.8%.  While also rushed for 5 touchdowns, showing flashes of his potential as a dual-threat QB.  Even though Fields impressed in his six starts, the Steelers turned to Russell Wilson in week 7 as he was healthy from his Calf injury.  Even though Fields lost playing time, he now had the opportunity to sit back and learn under the Steelers coaching staff.    

Fast Forward to this off-season, Justin Fields is now a New York Jet, with the opportunity to prove why he belongs in the league and that he can be a QB1 to lead a franchise to success.  

What Justin Fields Brings

Signing Justin Fields is easily a win for the Jets considering the amount of teams that are scrambling to find a veteran QB.  According to Aditi Kinkhabwala, the Steelers were all in on signing Justin Fields and made a competitive offer for Fields, but were beaten out by the Jets.  While the Steelers wait for Aaron Rodgers to make a decision, the Jets can focus on filling other positions on the roster.  If the Jets can make things work and not screw up, then this signing can easily be one of the best free-agent moves in franchise history.  

Fields brings a different style of play to the QB position that separates him from previous Jets QBs.  His mobility gives the offense opportunities to extend plays along with creating space that will open up the run game.  Hopefully, the Jets can solidify the offense line, cause they will surely be run-heavy this upcoming season.  The Jets will run more RPOs, read options, and utilize Breece Hall and Barelon Allen more.  Now defenses have to worry about containing Fields while also worrying about the running attack.  

Familiarity is also something that Fields brings as he has played with Jets stud wide receiver Garrett Wilson were college teammates at Ohio State from 2019-2020.  The possibility of Garrett Wilson leaving this off-season would leave a horrid taste in Jets fans’ mouths to see another elite player leave the team.  As he and Aaron Rodgers couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the field, Wilson was likely to want out if Rodgers were to stick around for another season.  But now with Justin Fields at the helm, Garrett Wilson couldn’t be happier to reunite with his former teammate.  Looking back at his combine interview, it was always a dream for Wilson to link back up with Fields at the NFL level.

“Anywhere would be a blessing, but you know definitely to link back up with Justin and you know do that at the NFL level would be a dream come true for sure”

Wherever he goes, Fields is known for his energy, hard work ethic, leadership, and drive for the game.  After talking about how it would be a dream come true to play with Fields at the NFL level, Garrett Wilson raved about Fields and explained why he was chosen to be captain at Ohio State.

“Just his mentality and how he approached coming into Ohio State and taking on the new role that he had, that’s something that we all noticed, and that’s why you saw him be a captain after a year there.  He’s a really special dude, special on the field as well, but what he did off the field, all of that was real”.

Along with Garrett Wilson, Fields has also played with Jets fourth-year tight end Jeremy Rucket and newly-signed center Josh Meyers.  

It’ll be interesting to see how new Jets OC Tanner Engstrand will utilize Justin Fields to the best of his abilities.  Engstrand runs a West Coast offense that focuses on creating a well-balanced approach in terms of prioritizing both the running and passing game.  While also setting up play-action passes with a strong ground game.  With the skillset Justin Fields possesses, he might fit into the offense well.

This signing has an opportunity to change both the future of Justin Fields’ football career and the future of the Jets franchise.  Fields, who is playing for his third team in five years, is running out of time to prove he is a QB1, while the Jets have been scrambling to their franchise QB for nearly a decade.  Only time will tell, as the Jets are still putting together their roster for the upcoming NFL season, with the draft in April.

Brandon Natale

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