At the New York Jets, a new era with a new regime and a new quarterback begins in the NFL. Justin Fields succeeds Aaron Rodgers. But does that fit at all? What can be expected from the ex-Bears star and will he be the QB of the future for gang Green?
After the separation of Rodgers, whose time in New Jersey has to be dismissed as an expensive misunderstanding, it is important to look ahead with the New York Jets. The new head coach Aaron Glenn and General Manager Darren Mougey have been committed to putting together a new team that should finally be competitive in the foreseeable future.
As is known, no position is more important than that of the quarterback. The jets opted for Justin Fields. Fields was originally the eleventh pick in the Draft 2011 from the Chicago Bears, who even hung up with the New York Giants from 20 for him at the time.
Since then, Fields has shown above all that he is a very good runner who brings great speed and mobility and can make plays with his feet. However, if it is about throwing the ball, it is a different story.
Jets-offense according to Lions model
Regardless of the further changes on the squad – the offensive line, especially the offensive will be changed – first arises as to what the offense of the jets should look like in the future. Head Coach Aaron Glenn has brought offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand from Detroit. There he recently acted as a Passing Game Coordinator under OC Ben Johnson and should bring a similar approach as his former supervisor.
This means that we will see a form of the West Coast Offense, which will do a lot with Play Action and Bootlegs. That fits with what Fields played in the previous year. In his six starts for the Steelers, he rely on Play Action in 31.5 percent of snaps – that was the second highest value of his career and the highest since 2022 (32.1). Let’s look at what the Lions did in this area, then Jared Goff was even 36.6 percent with a play action rate, which was his career high value.
Play action, short passes and the like simplify quartersbacks their reads and that in turn could now also benefit Fields, whose overview is not his strongest weapon. His plus to Goff is primarily its mobility. Here it will be exciting to see how narrow beach wants to bring this PS on the street. Increased bootlegs should be an approach, because this enables Fields to do a lot of damage even with designed runs.
However, his tendency to keep the ball too long is problematic. While Goff always got rid of the ball in this scheme in less than 2.8 seconds, Fields kept the ball on average 3.04 seconds in the previous season, which was at least his fastest value since his rookie season (2.91).
Fields more aggressive than goff
What should also speak for Fields in this type of offense are his numbers for short (less than 10 air yards) and medium length (10-19 Air Yards). In this area, he has just put a good constancy over the middle to his left side and over the middle, which he could also benefit from the jets.
Passing Depths Chart Justin Fields (source: pff.com)
If you take a closer look, it is noticeable that Field’s aggressiveness from Bears days when it comes to deep shots also retained in Pittsburgh. 12.1 percent of his passports flew at least 20 Air Yards. That was his lowest part in his career at all, but still almost twice as high as Goff’s value last season (6.1). So it is quite possible that you also take advantage of this to build on the foundation of the Johnson-Orese.
Ultimately, it will be important for narrow beach to maximize Fields’ advantages such as its athletics, explosiveness and strong arm, and minimize its deficits – lack of overview, impatience in the pocket, hesitation. If that succeeds, Fields could be something like Goff 2.0 on speed. So a quarterback that does not try to do too much, but it would still be able to do so.
Basically, you will also put a lot on the run game to take the QB from the shoulders, although Fields is of course also a factor due to its skills. However, the idea is to make life as easy as possible to the QB and to put it in a position in which it can be successful without having to do too much itself.
Jets have little risk with fields
If this succeeds, the jets could go back in the right direction for the first time in a long time. And if not, Fields would be at least not a long -term block on the leg.
This is also a sign of new foresight in Gang Green, because Fields’ contract is extremely team -friendly. What is a two -year contract of $ 40 million is actually a one -year contract of $ 30 million. In the first year, $ 20 million is guaranteed, in the second year half of its annual content (20 million) of $ 10 million. If the collaboration does not provide the desired yield, a separation after 2025 would be feasible.
At the same time, this suggests that the jets keep all options open. In other words, if a promising quarterback prospect run in the draft – in position 7 or more likely in later rounds – you could then look and strike into the longer future.
In the worst case, Fields will give the governor at the jets for a year before someone else takes over who may not be in sight yet. At best, however, it is exactly the type of quarterback that can fill the offense of Tanner Engstrand with life and can still improve compared to its original version. And then this one-year experiment could possibly even become something long-term.
Accordingly, the jets with Justin Fields have nothing to lose as a quarterback.