The New York Jets have moved on from Aaron Rodgers at QB1 and might be handing the reigns over to a talented 25-year-old who has had a mixed career thus far.
On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt laid out a 10-step plan for the Jets’ offseason and as part of that plan advocated for New York signing a former Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback who is now a free agent.
“There are not many great options available at quarterback this offseason, and the Jets aren’t a “quarterback away” from contention at this point anyway,” Rosenblatt wrote.
So the smart thing to do this offseason would be to take a swing at someone with talent, but without tying themselves down long-term. To me, that should lead the Jets down two possible paths (or a combination of two): Taking a swing on one in the NFL Draft, or signing (Justin) Fields.”
“The Jets would likely have to trade up for Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, and the seventh overall pick might be a little too rich for a prospect like Jaxson Dart or Tyler Shough — unless the Jets really believe one of them is a potential franchise quarterback. … A better route might be taking a shot on someone like Dart or Shough (or Jalen Milroe or Will Howard) on Day 2.”
“Adding Fields would happen before the draft, and if they signed him it shouldn’t stop them from taking a quarterback in the draft too. Fields is certainly an imperfect player but he clearly has talent, is still only 25 and showed some flashes of improvement with the Steelers last year. In six starts before the Steelers turned things over to Russell Wilson, Fields completed 66 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and only one interception — he rushed for an additional five touchdowns — though he threw for less than 200 yards per game.”