Sometimes, a player comes along who breaks most of the entrenched rules.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson falls into that category, as does Philadelphia Eagles champion Jalen Hurts. These two signal-callers routinely beat defenses with their right arm and legs, and they’ve helped push along significant NFL strategic changes in the last half-decade or so.
New York Jets rookie head coach Aaron Glenn seemingly embraces the athletic quarterback revolution. His decision to sign Justin Fields this past offseason reveals everything we need to know.
When featured, the incremental element of a quarterback’s ground game has great positives (i.e., higher offensive floor, a safer turnover ratio, etc.). Yet, going that route also results in relevant negatives (e.g., lower offensive ceiling, tougher to overcome deficits, etc.).
Perhaps more importantly, it demands novel thinking when evaluating players on the practice field.
Never judge Justin Fields solely at practice
Naturally, New York Jets fans crave every bit of information oozing out of Forham Park, NJ. Whereas the actual games are televised and thus seen by fans first-hand, training camp information depends on the media to deliver the communication.
It’s why quarterback stats, such as passes completed and attempted, have become a thing.
On Monday, Fields’s unofficial mark by the majority of onlookers went in the books as 4 of 16.
Rough. That is, until proper context is added.
Garrett Wilson outright dropped two of Fields’s passes. Wilson dropped one inside the 10-yard line on what looked to be a slant or shallow cross, which was incredibly ugly.
Perhaps he was thinking rush attempt on a potential RPO, or his eyes caught the sun. Either way, it was a brutal drop.
The other drop came earlier in the session when he beat Sauce Gardner to the outside on a longer-developing route. Fields, no doubt, threw it behind him a bit, but the ball was still one the WR1 has to secure.
Remember: Due to the nature of who Justin Fields is as a quarterback, practice can never emulate a genuine game atmosphere. While this is true for every NFL team, it’s more of a contrast for the offenses that rely on quarterbacks who rush the ball.
Coaching staffs never want the quarterback to scamper often in practice. At times, sure, it’s important to allow the quarterback to emulate in-game decisions—deciding whether or not to pull the trigger or take off—but breaking the pocket too often wastes far too many reps for the rest of the team.
Moreover, without the live, tackle-to-the-ground environment, Fields’s greatest attribute is automatically taken out of the equation. Practice defenses do not respect his ground threat as much as usual (when within the confines of a game environment).
Therefore, the Fields practice experience has a more traditional quarterback feel. Not even Aaron Glenn believes his quarterback is on track to become the next Johnny Unitas, a pocket-dominant passer.
Fields’ 2 best throws were incompletions
Analyzing the Jets’ quarterback play revolves around a few key items, and through that context, Fields’s Monday practice was exponentially better than what the fans witnessed on Saturday.
Fields deserves a passing grade on Monday for his pre-snap reads and timing, which haven’t always been passable this summer (especially this past Saturday). Remember, Tanner Engstrand’s scheme heavily relies on timing.
His best play of the day went to Breece Hall for 50+ yards. With Hall lined up as the No. 2 wide receiver on the right side, Fields appropriately took advantage of the pre-snap matchup.
Seeing the linebacker lined up on him, with just one high safety, the slot wheel down the sideline would be there. Fields recognized that and delivered a beauty, in stride.
Although Hall did come down with the ball—after an initial bobble with arms extended—he was ruled out of bounds.
Later, while working in the red zone, Fields put tremendous touch on a pass targeting Allen Lazard near the back-right pylon. Again, the throw was right with the timing and hit him in stride, the only type of pass that would beat the excellent man coverage from Michael Carter II.
Lazard did haul in the pass, but the play was incomplete; Aaron Rodgers’s dude couldn’t keep his right big toe in bounds.
Another plus in the Fields area is his game management. A handful of passes on Monday were sneaky throwaways that may not appear to be quarterback throwaways upon first glance.
When the Jets quarterback cannot find a target to unload the ball to, he throws the ball away in the direction of a target, in a completely safe area. While that’s a positive—and another reason for the vast number of incompletions—it also leads us to the negative …
Fields oftentimes gives up on the primary read and concept principle. This offense relies on the play-call to scheme open a player, and Fields often gives up and does not trust what he’s seeing.
Standouts, notable plays, and news
The Jets’ rushing attack looked better, especially early in team sessions. Isaiah Davis took an early handoff to the mid-left side of the line for a nice gain, getting things started (Joe Tippmann enjoyed a key block).
Breece Hall ran a zone-type concept on the right side in another play. However, his vision took over on the rep, as his early cut left the entirety of the trenches in his side-view mirror. This means Olu Fashanu especially did a tremendous job on the backside.
Stone Smartt caught a back-line touchdown from Justin Fields when the offense worked in the red zone. The Jets’ TE3 continues to put forth an impressive camp.
Glenn interestingly pushed back practice to 12:45 on Monday, which is a departure from his usual 8:30 a.m. starts. He also mentioned that this week will feature longer practices, which leads to the conclusion that he’s ramping things up to simulate more of a game atmosphere.
The intent to work on the screen game, red zone, and especially goal-line offense was apparent. On one hand, Engstrand’s goal-line passing concepts were impressive. On the other hand, the Jets’ coverage and communication in their own end zone were even better.
Sauce Gardner, Brandon Stephens, and Michael Carter II stood out on Monday afternoon. Despite how great the Jets covered, which leads most to believe Fields struggled, the idea of the offense working in smaller areas (goal-line passing concepts) is also thrown into the context bag.
Make no mistake: Let’s not pretend Fields crushed it on Monday. There’s a lot of room for improvement.
At the same time, it’s apparent that the “stats” can’t dare to dream of communicating an accurate portrayal of the quarterback’s day.
On the injury front, Mason Taylor missed practice with an ankle injury, which doesn’t appear serious. Quinnen Williams and John Simpson missed practice again, as did the players new to the injury report: Tyrod Taylor, Xavier Gipson, and Kris Boyd.
Jermaine Johnson was spotted in the rehab area looking ahead of schedule, and Malachi Moore was running sprints, not favoring his injured oblique.
The New York Jets will return to the practice field on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, a shorter turnaround (courtesy of Monday’s afternoon session).