There’s a particular play from 2024 that highlights Justin Fields’ improvement as a quarterback.
In Week 3, Fields threaded the needle and completed a pass to wide receiver Calvin Austin on a dig route. Austin retrieved the football and raced down the field for a 55-yard touchdown. It was the decisive play that propelled the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The victory improved Pittsburgh to 3-0 in the season. Fields would only start three more games for the Steelers, but the Week 3 tight-window throw validated Fields’ improvement as a quarterback.
Fields is now on his third team in as many seasons, but the Jets handed him a two-year, $40 million contract and assurance that he’s their guy.
“He has this quiet confidence about himself. He leads by the way that he wants to lead. His influence with the guys out there, I think you guys can see it. He can galvanize a group of men. Obviously, he’s a talented player and I’m happy that I have him as my quarterback, I really am, because I think the sky’s the limit for this player, I really do,” Jets head coach Aaron Glenn told reporters of Fields this offseason. “I’m not going to go out there and say that he’s the next Joe Namath or anything like that, but I will tell you what, he’s going to be a good player for us, and I’m excited with what he’s going to do for us this season.”
The first-year head coach and new general manager Darren Mougey chose Fields. The vote of confidence should have a positive effect on Fields after he was traded away from Chicago and demoted in Pittsburgh. Fields, already a dynamic runner, is coming off arguably his most impressive season passing the football, albeit in a small sample size. He produced career-bests in completion percentage (65.8) and passer rating (93.3) in 10 games, which included six starts with the Steelers. He was 4-2 as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback before he was benched in favor of Russell Wilson.
Fields is now the undisputed starter in New York.
“He is just a talented individual on all facets,” Jets offense coordinator Tanner Engstrand said of Fields, per the team’s official website. “He’s obviously a physically talented player. Everybody talks about the running, well, the guy’s got an arm, too, and he does a great job with that. And mentally, he’s phenomenal. He’s been absolutely phenomenal so far, and we expect more out of that, and it’s just a lot of things that you can do with that type of player that is going to put stress on a defense and make that defensive coordinator stay up late at night as we get going into this thing.”
The Jets are banking on an upward trajectory for the 26-year-old QB. New York invested in their offensive line with three total first-round picks slated to start, they have a solid running game that features Breece Hall and Braelon Allen, and an already established rapport between Fields and $130 million wide receiver Garrett Wilson from their two years together at Ohio State.
“He’s been my guy for a long time now,” Fields said of Wilson. “I really feel like we haven’t skipped a beat out on the practice field. It’s been great.”
In addition, the Jets have had a top five defense for three straight seasons that stars the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL.
The Jets own the dubious title of the team with the NFL’s longest active playoff drought. But if Fields builds on his performance from a year ago, the Jets could be a moving toward breaking their playoff dry spell.
“I think the sky is the limit for this team (and) for this offense, but we do have a long way to go,” Fields said this offseason. “We have all the guys we need. We have all the talent. It’s really just gonna come down to discipline and execution when the games come.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Quarterback Justin Fields is poised to prove doubters wrong.
