The New York Jets essentially purchased a lottery ticket at quarterback when they signed Justin Fields to a two-year, $40M deal with $30M guaranteed early in the new league year in March.
On Thursday, first-year Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand discussed how Fields has performed with his new club during spring workouts.
“He’s obviously a physically talented player,” Engstrand said about Fields, ESPN’s Rich Cimini of shared. “Everybody talks about the running — well, the guy’s got an arm, too, and he does a great job with that. Mentally, he’s phenomenal. He’s been absolutely phenomenal so far, and we expect more out of that. There’s just a lot of things that you can do with that type of player that’s going to put stress on a defense and make that defensive coordinator stay up late at night as we get going into this thing.”
The Chicago Bears made Fields a first-round draft pick in the spring of 2021 but then traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March 2024. Last summer, the Steelers worked to alter Fields’ throwing stance and footwork after he took more sacks (135) and committed more fumbles (38) than any other quarterback over the previous three seasons.
Fields later went 4-2 as Pittsburgh’s starter while veteran Russell Wilson recovered from a lingering calf injury. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin nevertheless turned to a healthy Wilson in Week 7, and Fields embraced a fresh start with the Jets this offseason.
Fields has a career record of 14-30 as an NFL starter, and the perception exists that he’s more of a runner than a passer. On Thursday, Engstrand suggested that he believes Fields hasn’t yet reached his ceiling in terms of playing the sport’s most important position.
“It is just growth,” Engstrand added about Fields, per Antwan Staley of the New York Daily News. “Just going through his career, just continuing to stack experience along with it and ultimately ends up winning four games out of six. You just see some of the things that are starting to develop in his game, and then you look at that and you go, ‘That’s pretty good, we can do some things with that.'”
The Jets can escape Fields’ contract as soon as next offseason and, thus, could start
backup Tyrod Taylor at any point if the 26-year-old plays poorly this fall. That said, the Jets could have more than a temporary fix for the quarterback problem that has plagued the franchise for over a decade if Engstrand and Co. can get the best out of Fields over the next handful of months.
