“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere,” the glorious yet notorious Frank Sinatra once sang so often.
It’s nothing new; most of the world comprehends this sentiment, and most of the world also understands this idea regarding New York sports.
Many have fallen flat through the years despite the incessant build-up during the time period that cannot help but generate hope.
Justin Fields, the latest New York Jets quarterback, is the latest human willingly taking on the Big Apple challenge. Of course, as is tradition, whenever a big-name free agent signs with one of the locals, the tabloid’s back pages do what it does best: capture the moment’s feel.
Wednesday’s edition of the New York Post ran with the headline “Track & Fields.”
Meanwhile, the New York Daily News played on the Pittsburgh Steelers name, the last franchise that employed the Jets’ new signal-caller.
Fields, 26, signed a 2-year, $40 million contract with the Jets this past Monday, just hours after the legal tampering period for free agency opened. In isolation, the deal isn’t outrageous by any means, even when factoring in the $30 million guaranteed.
When factoring in everything, however, a strong argument exists that the Jets are taking a major gamble. The $49 million in dead cap that was intentionally put on the books—courtesy of moving on from Aaron Rodgers—is a tough pill to swallow in conjunction with the Fields contract.
That is if it ends in disaster after only one year.
In any event, it is true: Jets fans should anticipate seeing something brand-new on offense. From zone-reads to more traditional, college-esque RPOs to one-read concepts that scheme up open targets, the Tanner Engstrand offense will look nothing like the Rodgers-led version.
Furthermore, it won’t resemble anything Jets fans have ever seen, really.
Sure, some of the gap-rushing concepts will be reminiscent of the Rex Ryan ground-and-pound days, and many of the read-option stuff will somewhat mirror the few plays Tim Tebow took over a decade ago.
From a general scope of the entire situation, however, the 2025 New York Jets offense will be that of a foreign language to fans. And Justin Fields’s first taste of the tabloid’s back pages oozes that very feel.
