Justin Fields decided to make it three teams in three years when he signed on with the New York Jets early in free agency. The former No. 11 overall pick agreed to a very reasonable two-year, $40 million deal. With most starting QBs making $50 million or more per year, it’s a bargain deal—if he can find both his footing and his voice.
Advertisement
Fields hasn’t quite been able to do that just yet. While he’s shown flashes of the talent everyone saw at Ohio State, a lack of consistency has plagued his early years with the Bears. Last season, he was more reliable during a 4-2 start with the Steelers before eventually ceding the job to veteran Russell Wilson.
The Jets will be hoping to see more of that 2024 version of Fields in New York—still offering a major threat on the ground, but cutting down on mistakes while delivering the occasional jaw-dropping dime. Kyle Brandt believes that improvement on the field needs to be matched by growth into a vocal leader off of it as well.
“Justin Fields is quiet. He’s soft-spoken. You might even say he’s robotic at times. But that’s being unfair to him. That was years ago. This is a new guy on his third team now, who’s running around in New York with a camera on his head, and he’s kind of like the face of the team in a way,” Brandt said.
Fields isn’t the only new guy trying to form part of the new spine of a franchise looking for a turnaround. They also have a new head coach, Aaron Glenn, who brings the “fire and brimstone”—much like his former boss in Detroit, Dan Campbell. However, as Brandt points out, Glenn can’t speak for the players. They need Fields for that.
“It’s time for him to be a leader because we like Aaron Glenn as much as the next guy, and he’s got the fire and brimstone, and it’s great. He’s not out there making plays.”
Brandt believes Fields has a great opportunity to come in and be a very different voice from Aaron Rodgers, who was QB1 for the Jets last year. He certainly has a different voice than a surly 41-year-old—he just needs to make it heard.
“And the fact that Fields is replacing Rodgers, who just couldn’t be more of a different player, person, generation, everything than him. It’s time for Fields to step up and say something. It’s time for him to be on the field and lead by example, not just keeping his mouth shut and trying to make plays. That’s young Justin Fields. If you want this third team to be your final team, you got to be a leader, not just a player.”
View this post on Instagram
It’s also worth noting that while Chicago and Pittsburgh are tough football cities, they’ve got nothing on New York. Sports fans and media in the City That Never Sleeps are a different breed. If he stays quiet, the New York media can easily label him in ways he might not like. He needs to establish himself not only as QB1 but as a vocal leader fans can rally behind.
He’ll have no shortage of quality weapons to start, with elite players like wideout Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall already in-house. According to early reports, Fields has continued to show both encouraging flashes and discouraging inconsistency during his team’s minicamp in June.
