Jets should not be crucified for Justin Fields experiment

The 2025 New York Jets resigned themselves to their fate the moment they chose Justin Fields to be their starting quarterback.

New York believed they could turn Fields into a viable starting quarterback when they signed him to a two-year, $40 million contract in free agency. So confident were the Jets, they did not even push the former first-round pick into a training camp battle.

The results, as has been a regular occurrence in Fields’ NFL career, have been a disaster.

The Jets stand at a dismal 2-8 record while Fields commands the worst passing offense in the league. In four of the last five games, Gang Green has failed to record over 150 yards through the air.

While some fans may rue the decision altogether, pointing to the preceding decision to move on from Aaron Rodgers, the reality is that New York shouldn’t be crucified for their experiment with Fields, even as they prepare to bench him for Week 12.

Fields benched again

As reported by Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Jets are turning the offense over to veteran backup signal-caller Tyrod Taylor. For Fields, this is the second time he has been benched this season.

Now, the move seems permanent.

Fields has only himself to blame. New York paid him like a starting quarterback and shaped their offense based on his skill set. Throughout the 2025 season, there have been receivers running open. Fields just hasn’t hit them consistently.

There will be fans and analysts who believe the Jets made a mistake in bringing Fields to New York from the very beginning. He was, after all, a flawed quarterback who was about to be on his third team in as many years. Some pointed to letting go of former four-time NFL MVP and 42-year-old signal-caller Aaron Rodgers as a misguided effort from the new Jets regime.

But Rodgers isn’t exactly lighting the world up for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The fact of the matter is that there was never going to be a clear answer at the quarterback position for the Jets in 2025. The top free agent target, Sam Darnold, was never going to come back to Florham Park. They also were not in love with any of the rookie quarterbacks in the draft class.

Fields was arguably the best available signal-caller for a team that was trying to figure out who they were.

It didn’t work out. That doesn’t mean the front office’s process was wrong. It just means they will desperately need to figure out the position in 2026 instead.

Jets’ future QB plans

Luckily for New York, they will have plenty of resources to figure out the quarterback position once and for all. The Jets are scheduled to have over $99 million in cap space, as well as eight draft picks in the first two rounds of the next couple of drafts.

That is more than enough capital to potentially trade up for a rookie quarterback that they fall in love with.

Whether that means Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Alabama’s Ty Simpson, or a signal-caller in the 2027 draft class, New York is equipped to find a young quarterback to lead the franchise in the near future.

They don’t have to go that route, either. In the modern NFL, organizations are more inclined to eat large dead caps if it means they can move players they aren’t buying into.

If the Arizona Cardinals want to move on from Kyler Murray, the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t sold on Trevor Lawrence, or another veteran is falling out of favor with their respective team, the Jets have the cap space and draft capital to make a move.

Either way, the Jets have to pivot going forward. The Fields experiment has officially been declared a bust, but the process behind it made sense given New York’s options at the time.