The New York Jets have a quarterback problem. Again.
After years of futility at the position, New York hoped its latest moves would prove to be worth it. After moving on from veteran Aaron Rodgers, the Jets signed Justin Fields to a two-year contract this past offseason—believing they had the coaching needed to turn the former first-round pick’s career around.
That didn’t happen, and those failings came to a head on Sunday afternoon in another Jets loss.
In New York’s 13-6 defeat to the Carolina Panthers, Fields again failed to throw for over 100 yards passing—the third time this season he has failed to achieve that very legitimate request for modern quarterbacks.
After a first half of struggles, Aaron Glenn chose to bench the Jets’ starter. Now, the rookie coach is trying to figure out the best path forward for his time following a 0-7 start and a new quarterback controversy.
Aaron Glenn looks outward
Glenn is not the first coach in history to bench a struggling starting quarterback during a season. He also openly acknowledged the possibility of New York going back to Fields at some point during the 2025 regular season.
But the Jets head coach isn’t exactly sure where the team goes from here.
As a former defensive coordinator, Glenn is working with the quarterback position for the very first time. Perhaps that’s the reason why he is looking outside of the confines of the Jets facility for advice on how to handle the current situation.
“It’s early on Monday, so I said this yesterday that there’s a lot of thought that goes into that, for me personally,” Glenn said Monday morning. ” Being able to get with the staff, and then just being able to ask other coaches that have been in the situation, how would they handle that.”
Glenn has consistently mentioned using former head coaches from around the league, such as Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy, as a springboard for ideas and advice. After his starting quarterback failed to show competency on Sunday, the Jets’ coach is revisiting the well of advice to help solve the team’s signal-caller issue.
The problem? There doesn’t appear to be a set solution on the roster.
Quarterback outlook
As good as Tyrod Taylor looked compared to Fields in relief of Fields on Sunday, the veteran signal-caller wasn’t good in his own right. He was late on multiple reads and threw two interceptions that later cost the team the win.
On one particular play, the Jets ran a trick play that broke wide receiver Allen Lazard wide open for a potential tying score.
Taylor took forever to get the ball out, and his deep pass took forever to reach its destination. Instead of a touchdown, the throw gave Carolina enough time to get back to knock the pass incomplete.
Taylor was always considered a quality backup quarterback, but was never intended to be the team’s starter in 2025. Now, he’s potentially thrust into the starting lineup for a team that hasn’t won a game.
It only highlights the struggles that Fields has faced this season. To his credit, Glenn took blame for those failings as well.
“I think there’s blame to go around on a number of things when you look at that question,” Glenn said. “We have to continue to figure out [how to] put him in the best position to be successful.”
Of course, it doesn’t really matter who is to blame. It doesn’t change the fact that the 0-7 New York Jets still do not have an answer at quarterback.
If last week’s results are any indication, it appears that the organization does not have a satisfactory answer at this point.
