The Jets had taken the rookie route during most of their time between Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, deviating only through the Ryan Fitzpatrick–Josh McCown years ahead of the Sam Darnold pick. Now, they’ve turned to back-to-back veterans, with Justin Fields succeeding Rodgers.
As Rodgers has bounced back in Pittsburgh, Fields is floundering in Latest York. The Jets pried Fields from a Steelers team inquisitive about re-signing him, handing out a two-year deal value $40MM ($30MM guaranteed at signing). Outfitting the shaky passer with a top-heavy pass-catching corps, the Jets have received poor play. Woody Johnson is amongst those concerned in regards to the quarterback.
“It looks like (Aaron Glenn) is popping around a part of it,” Johnson said (via the Latest York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy). “It’s hard when you might have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got. He has the power, but something will not be jiving. When you have a look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you’re going to similar results across the league. You’ve got to play consistently at that position and that’s what we’re going to attempt to do.
“… If we could just complete a pass, it could look good. You’ve got to persuade them which you could do something, otherwise it’s hard to have a game which you could win.”
No stranger to throwing his weight around, Johnson endorsing Glenn (while making pointed criticism about his recent regime’s QB selection) is notable. The recent firings of Urban Meyer, Nathaniel Hackett and Frank Reich during their first seasons shows teams have been willing to chop the cord early if an operation skids far astray. A GM informed the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora he could see Johnson making one other impulsive move and firing Glenn during or after his first season in charge. Johnson, nonetheless, called Glenn “the true deal” when chatting with media (via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler) today.
A former standout Jets cornerback who became a hot coaching commodity this offseason, Glenn has steered the team to an 0-7 mark. Although the Lions were on the same path to open the 2021 season — Glenn’s first yr as Detroit’s DC — that team didn’t have the defensive talent the present Jets squad does. Despite working with Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams, Quincy Williams, Will McDonald and the recently re-signed Jamien Sherwood, Glenn has the Jets’ defense sitting twenty sixth in scoring and twenty seventh in EPA per play. While Latest York does sit sixteenth in yardage (an improvement over last season’s Twentieth-place rating), the team has dissatisfied in nearly every facet this yr.
Glenn can be given more time to show this around, but he might want to make a quarterback decision after benching Fields in Week 7 and never committing to starting him in Week 8. Fields sits thirty first in QBR; amongst current starters, only Cam Ward is worse. Never viewed as a very accurate passer, Fields had been tabbed to pilot an offense featuring little by way of aerial weaponry outside of Garrett Wilson. The recently prolonged wideout is now injured, and the team predictably sputtered without its top weapon.
Glenn benched Fields every week after he took nine sacks and threw for just 45 yards in a loss to the Broncos, and the demotion — one the HC dismissed after the London loss — appears near being a long-term plan. The primary-year HC is moving toward Tyrod Taylor because the team’s Week 8 starter, ESPN’s Wealthy Cimini reports.
Taylor has only been given starts resulting from injuries over the past 4 seasons. Although he opened the 2018, ’20 and ’21 campaigns as a starter (in Cleveland, Los Angeles and Houston), he sat behind the likes of Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito (for a stretch in 2023) and Rodgers since. The Fifteenth-year QB is within the second season of a two-year, $12MM deal — one the Jets handed out after they didn’t add a veteran to backstop Rodgers in 2023.
This may move Taylor’s start count to 60. The previous three-year Bills starter has loads of experience filling in, but a benching of this kind could be way more relevant for Fields, who had commanded considerable interest as a free agent. The Steelers preferred he and Matthew Stafford to Rodgers, but after they parked Fields near midseason (as Russell Wilson recovered from a calf injury), the 2021 first-rounder became more open to looking elsewhere. He found a taker within the Jets, but the outcomes have proven wildly disappointing.
With Johnson making these comments, the coaching staff’s relationship with its handpicked starter might have some mending. Though, the Jets have more obstacles to beat than worrying a couple of struggling QB’s mindset.
Whether this can be a short-term reset or the Jets admitting a mistake early, Johnson saying (via Cimini) the QB call is “completely as much as the coach” will apply some heat on Glenn. GM Darren Mougey can be under the microscope considering how his first QB swing goes.
For now, Glenn is in good standing. But at 0-7, the rookie HC will need to indicate progress soon to avoid one-and-done rumors. It appears the coach is showing more faith in Taylor to assist create that progress. By 2026, nonetheless, rumors figure to attach the Jets to an aggressive pursuit of one other rookie option under center.