FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – It was quiet around the New York Jets’ practice fields this spring — quieter than it’s been in a long time. For years, they’ve heard mostly noise, especially around their quarterback position. It was loudest during the two years of the Aaron Rodgers regime.
Rodgers is the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ problem now, though, and in his place is a quarterback operating remarkably far from the spotlight. Maybe it’s because of his resume. Maybe it’s the low expectations. Or maybe it’s just who he is. But Justin Fields has been asserting himself as the Jets’ latest quarterback hopeful without attracting much attention.
Turns out, that’s exactly how the Jets like it. After decades of quarterback noise, the silence seems to be what they prefer.
“He’s not trying to be the celebrity quarterback,” new Jets coach Aaron Glenn said after a practice in May, borrowing a phrase from one of his mentors, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. “He’s just trying to be himself. And whatever comes with that, it comes with it. So, he’s not trying to impress anybody. He’s going out there and he’s busting his [butt], trying to be the best quarterback he can be for this team.
“Everybody sees that. And I like that.”
So far, the Jets have liked everything they’ve seen from the 26-year-old Fields since they signed him to a two-year, $40 million deal back in March. He was their top choice this offseason, once the new regime of Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey quickly decided to move on from the enigmatic and crumbling Rodgers. And they were thrilled when Fields chose them, even though the Steelers tried to bring him back.
What they see, Glenn has said, is a talented quarterback who hasn’t been put in many good situations since he was the 11th overall pick of the 2021 draft. His first three years with the Chicago Bears were plagued by constant coaching and coordinator changes, injuries, and a seemingly endless battle for the starting job. The Bears eventually traded him to the Steelers before the 2024 draft for a sixth-round pick.
Justin Fields went 10-28 in his three seasons as the Bears’ starting quarterback. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
Fields actually had a mini-revival with the Steelers last season, starting the first six games for the injured Russell Wilson. Pittsburgh went 4-2 and Fields threw only one interception while cutting down on his penchant for reckless scrambling. And while he only threw for more than 200 yards in two of his six starts, it was still a promising turn, especially regarding his accuracy. He completed a career-best 65.8% of his passes last year. But as soon as Wilson was healthy, Fields was sent back to the bench.
The Jets saw enough to commit to him as their starter, though, even though not everyone around the NFL believes their troubled franchise can provide him the kind of positive situation he likely needs to thrive. This is a franchise that has been aimlessly searching for quarterback stability for nearly 50 years, since Joe Namath threw his last pass in their green uniforms. Fields probably isn’t the long-term answer or the true franchise quarterback they’ve been craving.
But for now, they think he could be the perfect fit.
“He’s obviously a physically talented player,” said new Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. “Everybody talks about the running. Well, the guy’s got an arm, too, and he does a great job with that. Mentally, he’s phenomenal. There’s just a lot of things that you can do with that type of player that’s going to put stress on a defense and make that defensive coordinator stay up late at night.”
“You sense the seriousness about him, the competitiveness,” added Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert, who played with Fields at Ohio State (along with current Jets receiver Garrett Wilson and center Josh Myers). “He’s super-athletic. But I think the biggest thing about him is his mental toughness. Nothing’s going to rattle him. He’s good for this team and this area. He wants the pressure. He’s built for it.”
If that’s true, that’s good because the pressure is high. The Jets went a disappointing 5-12 last season, which caused owner Woody Johnson to do another semi-regular cleaning of his poorly-built house, firing both head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas during the season. And while the fanbase is used to a certain level of chaos and misery, the Jets’ current run is reaching epic proportions. They’ve missed the playoffs a league-worst 14 straight years, in which they’ve lost at least 10 games 10 times and finished above .500 only once.
Nobody thinks Fields can single-handedly lift the franchise out of those depths, but the quarterback’s success (or lack of it) could still be a telling sign for the new regime, since signing him was the first major decision of the Mougey-Glenn era. And they know turning Fields into the quarterback he was once supposed to be won’t be easy. They have heard all the criticism throughout his career — the accuracy issues, his inability to process things quickly at the line of scrimmage, his penchant for running when he should stay in the pocket, and his maddening inconsistency. Some of that has even been on display during the spring too, especially during the mandatory minicamp in mid-June.
Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson formed one of the best QB-WR duos in college football during their time at Ohio State. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)
But so were his better attributes — his cannon arm, his remarkable athleticism, and at times his ability to throw a perfect, thread-the-needle strike. That at least gave the Jets reason to hope.
“You don’t see a lot of quarterbacks able to move the way he’s able to move,” said safety Tony Adams. “And I think people underestimate his arm talent. He has great arm talent.”
“I mean, the dude’s a freak,” added defensive end Rashad Weaver. “He has every attribute. His arm is a rocket.”
Fields’ physical ability has never been in doubt going back to when he led Ohio State to the college football final four in both his seasons as a starter. But through the first four years of his NFL career, he hasn’t been able to harness all that ability. The Jets, though, think they have solutions for his flaws. And it’s more than just tailoring the offense of their first-time offensive coordinator around his talents, or planning a run-based attack that could limit what he’s asked to do.
They’re also taking a unique, hands-on approach by trying to see exactly what he sees on the field. Throughout the spring, all the Jets quarterbacks had GoPro cameras attached to their helmets. Then they’d review the footage with the coaches, so everyone could go through the progressions together. They could all see what Fields saw, and, to an extent, what he was thinking on every play.
Then they could all walk him through it in remarkable detail, to get him more comfortable and help him make better, quicker decisions when the games begin.
“It’s awesome,” Engstrand said. “I’m just telling you, I can’t believe we didn’t do this before. It is unbelievable. We can hear him at the line of scrimmage, making his check. You can see his eyes, where he’s going, and then you can see him go through the progression. You can see everything from his vantage point.”
Fields seems to think that will help him learn and process defenses quicker, and the coaches are convinced it will. Their optimism, though, is about more than technical fixes. It’s really about the fit. So far, Fields has proven to be everything Rodgers wasn’t. And that started with him being present. There were no camel rides through Egypt instead of attending minicamp, no airing organizational laundry on national podcasts, no headline-grabbing conspiracy theories or brief attention-seeking forays into politics.
Instead, Fields spends his time doing what leaders are supposed to do. He’s been on the field and in the building, trying to out-work everyone. And when he wasn’t there, he was getting to know the players he’s trying to lead off the field, too.
“Justin is doing things outside the building that shows how he’s trying to just have relationships with all the players,” Glenn said. “And not just the offensive players, either, just with all the players on the team. That has a lot to do with leadership there, just being able to communicate with offensive guys, defensive guys, it doesn’t matter, special teams. He’s doing a really good job of that.”
That’s a small but significant thing that Fields has tried to emphasize. Back in May, he took his offensive linemen and tight ends to a golf simulator for a few hours. He went with another group of teammates to a crab boil. He’s spent time working out with them, of course, away from the facility. And he’s made sure to have one-on-one time with as many of his teammates as he can, too.
“I think that camaraderie, that closeness that we’re trying to get to as a team, all of that just makes us play for each other more,” Fields said. “It’s really just things you can’t measure on the football field, but I think the closer our team is, the better we’ll be.”
It has also made him something that his older, odder predecessor wasn’t — relatable. Fields is purposely not a quarterback up on a pedestal. He’s put himself on the same level as everyone else in the Jets’ building. It helps, as running back Breece Hall noted, that he’s “young, like us, so we talk about a lot of the same stuff.” But it helps even more that he’s authentic.
Aaron Rodgers is now in Pittsburgh, but it’s hard for those who follow the Jets not to compare their new quarterback’s off-field behavior to that of his predecessor. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
He’s not trying to be what his teammates need, or what he thinks a quarterback is supposed to be. He’s just being who he is.
“He’s been cool to be around,” Hall said. “He’s just a good dude.”
“Guys can kind of pick up if you’re being real or not or if you’re putting on an act inside the building,” Fields said. “So, I think the most important thing when doing that is just being yourself and guys can tell that, guys can tell if you’re genuine, if you’re of course being who you say you are.”
At least so far, he’s been a needed, calming presence. He has freed the Jets from the Rodgers circus and any of their usual quarterback-induced distractions. He has shown the usual amount of offseason, new-team optimism, saying “I think I can be great” and “the sky’s the limit for this team,” but he’s otherwise refrained from saying or doing anything that might cause a regional or national stir.
What he’s done, to the delight of his teammates and coaches, is just put his head down and go to work.
“This guy is just a workaholic,” Engstrand said. “He comes in early, he’s here late, and he’s trying to digest everything and download all the information and do things the right way. He’s trying to do things that we’re asking.”
“He’s had a lot of ups and downs, being a high draft pick and being on a couple of different teams,” Weaver added. “But that’s a dude that just comes in and works and doesn’t seem too bothered by what’s going on around you. If that’s your quarterback’s mindset and how he controls himself and doesn’t waver, I think he’ll be in a good place no matter what.”
Of course, while all that is good and encouraging, Fields’ success will still come down to how he plays in the fall. If the Jets are right, the NFL could be in for a big surprise. This is still a team loaded with offensive weapons and a dangerous defense. They’ve just been waiting for the right quarterback and a competent coach to pull it all together. If they’re wrong, they’ve wasted nothing, really — Fields’ contract is small by NFL quarterback standards and contains only $10 million in guaranteed money in 2026 — and they can try again in what is expected to be a quarterback-rich draft next year.
But they’re betting on the former. They believe that, while the New York Giants and Steelers were pining for Rodgers, and teams like the Seahawks (with Sam Darnold) and Raiders (with Geno Smith) were kicking the tires on Jets retreads, and a bunch of quarterback-needy teams were reaching into a flawed and much-derided draft class, they somehow pulled an overlooked diamond out of the scrap heap.
Justin Fields is seeking to end the long list of disappointments the Jets have had at quarterback, which includes Aaron Rodgers and Sam Darnold. (Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’ll be a few months before they’ll know if they were right. But for now, it seems clear that Fields is working hard to prove that they are. And he’s doing it just the way they like it — quietly, away from the cameras and off the back pages of the tabloids. And he’s doing it that way on the field, too. He hasn’t been overly demonstrative, flashy or even raised his voice much with his teammates.
He’s just been hard at work, as far away from the spotlight as he can get.
“He just [has a] kind of a quiet confidence about him,” Engstrand said. “A little lead by example. But if you could be in the huddle, there’s some command there. And when he’s talking, the guys listen. I think that’s the best part about it. He doesn’t have to be overly vocal or outlandish and over the top with his communication with guys. It’s just really an example, lead by example, and when something needs to be said, he’ll say it and they’ll listen.”
“Yes, he is a quiet voice,” Glenn added. “But that quiet voice doesn’t mean that people don’t hear him. People see the way he works. That speaks more than what you say. And I like that about him because he is himself and he’s authentic, and he’s not going to change for nobody.
“I’d rather have that than somebody that’s fake.”
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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