On his unofficial New York debut, Justin Fields needed only ten plays to remind everyone why the Jets rolled the dice on him. Against the Packers, he orchestrated a smooth 79-yard march, capping it with a 13-yard dash into the end zone. He finished 3-of-4 for 42 yards before taking the rest of the night off. And it impressed Aaron Glenn, who said Fields did “everything we needed.” But Glenn’s praise didn’t just stop there.
“We know he has [the run] in his bag,” Glenn replied. “The thing he showed was patience. We can call a shot play, and if it’s not there, he’ll check it down. That’s growth.” That growth showed on a 6-yard zip to Tyler Johnson to move the chains, and a 12 and 24-yard connection to Andrew Beck built on yards after the catch. While his only miss was a tight out route to Garrett Wilson, analysts still believe New York isn’t ready to write a long-term check just yet.
Because earlier this offseason, the Jets had to navigate their own QB crossroads. The writing was on the wall that Aaron Rodgers wasn’t going to be the centerpiece once Fields arrived. Instead, the franchise locked into what NFL insider Mike Garafolo called “a one and a half year commitment.” As he put it, “But it’s still its bridge quarterback money. You’re wondering about what exactly are you getting here. Clearly, they didn’t feel like we need to make this massive commitment.”
But host Rich Eisen has a perfect parallel that might change Glenn’s perspective. “If you’re Aaron Glenn, it’s a Jared Goff-type situation where everybody goes, OK, here’s your bridge quarterback, and he winds up being your guy. And then you don’t have to use draft capital to go out and find another guy. And you can use that to build around him,” he said. The message is clear—the ‘bridge’ label doesn’t always stick.
After all, Goff’s own story started the same way. Traded from the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 as part of the Matthew Stafford deal, Goff arrived in Detroit under the “bridge quarterback” tag. Back then, Glenn was the Lions’ defensive coordinator and had a front-row seat to the narrative shift. He saw Goff turn into the long-term guy—without the Lions burning draft capital on a replacement.
And just last season, Goff put together his finest campaign yet—career highs in passing yards (4,629) and touchdowns (37), steering Detroit to a 15-2 record and the NFC’s top seed. He ranked among the league leaders in completion percentage (111.8), yardage, touchdowns, and passer rating in 2024, even becoming an AP MVP finalist. His sharper decision-making and pinpoint accuracy proved the label wrong.
So if Eisen’s right, Glenn could be looking at Fields the same way. “So I think that’s the pie in the sky hope here for Justin Fields. But in the meantime, it’ll keep him competitive,” Eisen added. However, one coach feels Fields might be a big problem for Glenn.
NFL coach feels Aaron Glenn will struggle with Fields’ worst qualities
Aaron Glenn didn’t sugarcoat a thing at Jets camp. The head coach came out plain, blunt, and hard-nosed about what’s holding Justin Fields back. “If he is to be believed… [Fields has been] holding the ball too long. Deep shots float. Reads stall.” It’s the kind of unflattering honesty that says Glenn’s banking on candor over comfort. The mission is simple—scrub out those bad habits while betting on the raw athleticism that still turns heads.
But, The Athletic reported what one anonymous coach spelled out bluntly: “(The Jets) know who he is, what he is, and they are going to try to structure things for him. The problem is, the hardest thing to fix with a quarterback is keeping their eyes up the field, seeing the field, and not being affected by the rush. And those are three of the worst things that he does.” Translation? The Jets’ challenge isn’t discovering hidden magic—it’s hiding flaws long enough for Fields to outgrow them.
Even the numbers back up the uphill climb. Fields’ highest mark among Tier voters was a modest 3 in 2023. His 2025 average tier vote (3.74) is basically identical to his rookie year’s 3.72. That’s not growth—it’s stagnation. Yes, he can torch defenders on the ground, but can he process at NFL speed every snap?
The answer might be in Pittsburgh’s 2023 playbook. With Fields starting, they went 4-2, ranking only 20th in offensive EPA per play but masking it with top-five output from special teams and defense. That defense-first, run-heavy formula could be tailor-made for Gang Green.
As one head coach summed it up: “This is another guy who, in the pure-pass world, you say probably not, but you put him in Tier 3 because he is the run game, probably, and then on top of that, the Jets are hopefully going to play good defense. If they put together an RPO play-action system, this guy could easily be a really positive thing for them.”
But as another coach warned, “At the end of the third quarter, you will be down 8-10 points. Great, you kept it close. Now, what?” That’s the question Glenn must answer before the season gets real.
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