The Jets had taken the rookie route during most of their time between Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, deviating only during the Ryan Fitzpatrick–Josh McCown years ahead of the Sam Darnold pick. Now, they have turned to back-to-back veterans, with Justin Fields succeeding Rodgers.
As Rodgers has bounced back in Pittsburgh, Fields is floundering in New York. The Jets pried Fields from a Steelers team interested in re-signing him, handing out a two-year deal worth $40MM ($30MM guaranteed at signing). Outfitting the shaky passer with a top-heavy pass-catching corps, the Jets have received poor play. Woody Johnson is among those concerned about the quarterback.
“It looks like (Aaron Glenn) is turning around part of it,” Johnson said (via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy). “It’s hard when you have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got. He has the ability, but something is not jiving. If you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you are going to similar results across the league. You have to play consistently at that position and that’s what we’re going to try to do.
“… If we could just complete a pass, it would look good. You have to convince them that you can do something, otherwise it’s hard to have a game that you can win.”
No stranger to throwing his weight around, Johnson endorsing Glenn (while making pointed criticism about his new regime’s QB choice) is notable. The recent firings of Urban Meyer, Nathaniel Hackett and Frank Reich during their first seasons shows teams have been willing to cut the cord early if an operation skids far off track. A GM informed the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora he could see Johnson making another impulsive move and firing Glenn during or after his first season in charge. Johnson, however, called Glenn “the real deal” when speaking to media (via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler) today.
A former standout Jets cornerback who became a hot coaching commodity this offseason, Glenn has steered the team to an 0-7 mark. Although the Lions were on a similar path to open the 2021 season — Glenn’s first year as Detroit’s DC — that team did not have the defensive talent the current Jets squad does. Despite working with Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams, Quincy Williams, Will McDonald and the recently re-signed Jamien Sherwood, Glenn has the Jets’ defense sitting 26th in scoring and 27th in EPA per play. While New York does sit 16th in yardage (an improvement over last season’s 20th-place ranking), the team has disappointed in just about every facet this year.
Glenn will be given more time to turn this around, but he will need to make a quarterback decision after benching Fields in Week 7 and not committing to starting him in Week 8. Fields sits 31st in QBR; among current starters, only Cam Ward is worse. Never viewed as a particularly accurate passer, Fields had been tabbed to pilot an offense featuring little in terms of aerial weaponry outside of Garrett Wilson. The recently extended wideout is now injured, and the team predictably sputtered without its top weapon.
Glenn benched Fields a week after he took nine sacks and threw for just 45 yards in a loss to the Broncos, and the demotion — one the HC dismissed after the London loss — appears close to being a long-term plan. The first-year HC is moving toward Tyrod Taylor as the team’s Week 8 starter, ESPN’s Rich Cimini reports.
Taylor has only been given starts due to injuries over the past four seasons. Although he opened the 2018, ’20 and ’21 campaigns as a starter (in Cleveland, Los Angeles and Houston), he sat behind the likes of Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito (for a stretch in 2023) and Rodgers since. The 15th-year QB is in the second season of a two-year, $12MM deal — one the Jets handed out after they did not add a veteran to backstop Rodgers in 2023.
This would move Taylor’s start count to 60. The former three-year Bills starter has plenty of experience filling in, but a benching of this sort would be much more relevant for Fields, who had commanded considerable interest as a free agent. The Steelers preferred he and Matthew Stafford to Rodgers, but after they parked Fields near midseason (as Russell Wilson recovered from a calf injury), the 2021 first-rounder became more open to looking elsewhere. He found a taker in the Jets, but the results have proven wildly disappointing.
With Johnson making these comments, the coaching staff’s relationship with its handpicked starter may need some mending. Though, the Jets have more obstacles to overcome than worrying about a struggling QB’s mindset.
Whether this will be a short-term reset or the Jets admitting a mistake early, Johnson saying (via Cimini) the QB call is “completely up to the coach” will apply some heat on Glenn. GM Darren Mougey is also under the microscope considering how his first QB swing is going.
For now, Glenn is in good standing. But at 0-7, the rookie HC will need to show progress soon to avoid one-and-done rumors. It appears the coach is showing more faith in Taylor to help create that progress. By 2026, however, rumors figure to connect the Jets to an aggressive pursuit of another rookie option under center.
Cannot stress enough how little I ever want to hear what Woody Johnson thinks. After his nonsense last year, he should be striving to be forgotten by fans as much as possible.
Jets fans should pray Woody gets another ambassador job, this time to some place even further away like Mongolia or Timbuktu.
@Black Ace57 No…Jets fans should pray that Woody bails and puts the team up for sale. The problem is, he’s destroyed what little worth the franchise had these last 15+ years, so he’d probably take a loss on any deal!
Do you even have a single clue? Johnson paid like 635Mil the team is valued over 8 Billion.
Right… there’s a sucker born every minute too.
If prayers could make him sell the team it would’ve happened ages ago
There are bunch of teams across professional American sports that suffer for so long because of the ownership and their decisions. I know they’re essentially private businesses (?) but it feels like fans should have some way of influencing an ownership change over time. I know that’s not going to happen, but if we have to wait until a Donald Sterling situation happens, that’s too long.
….understanding that “just don’t go to the games or buy merch” is not a viable solution, although the Oakland A’s fans did make a statement last year.
Why is not going to games not a viable solution?
That’s just a drop in the sea of revenue and can be offset with dynamic pricing models with relative ease.
From a spreadsheet perspective, I’m sure that’s true. From an optics standpoint, empty seats are hard to hide. If the problem became glaring enough, the EXTREMELY image conscious NFL would step in and find a way to pressure an owner into selling.
To your point, the Knicks suffered for almost two decades because Dolan was too hands on. He took a step back when they hired Leon Rose and wouldn’t you know, they’re a perennial playoff team. He did dip his toes back in with the firing of Thibs, though, so we’ll see how that plays out.
Three words: MSG Enemies List.
I can’t think of a worse feeling than being told by Woody Johnson that you suck. Maybe being told by Bob Nutting that you’re cheap comes close.
Lol the monkeys don’t get to run the circus. Fans deserve NO influence in teams whatsoever lol. If you don’t like what a team is doing over 20+ years follow a different one. There’s no laws to being a fan.
“Lol the monkeys don’t get to run the circus. Fans deserve NO influence in teams whatsoever lol.”
They’re literally the ones paying for the product. They deserve plenty of influence and they actually have it. They can just stop paying for something. What you’re saying is like saying that consumers deserve no influence over the products they buy. They not only deserve it but they have it.
People pay for McDonalds, do they choose the items on the menu? Customers buy Nike do they choose the color waves? Patterns? Lol. Consumers have a choice, it’s called a different franchise to watch. Choose a new sport for hecks sake. You get NO say.
How do you think the items get on the menu? You see the McRib on there all year long? No demand, no supply. Off the menu.
That’s my point.. if it were up to the people who ‘love’ it so much wouldn’t they be all year round? That’s what the people would want.
“People pay for McDonalds, do they choose the items on the menu?”
Literally yes. I don’t think you understand commerce, my friend. McDonald’s tried to shove the Arch Deluxe down people’s throats. They said no, it disappeared. I’m thinking you’re some kind of troll given your hysterical and wrong assertions.
“Consumers have a choice, it’s called a different franchise to watch.”
So we’re in agreement that fans have a say? That if they don’t like a team’s moves, they can stop supporting, and the team can either listen to the fans or die off?
A handful of fans not watching isn’t going to cripple the franchise.
So now you’ve moved the goalposts to “a handful of fans” instead of the topic, which was fans as a whole. Got it.
If you logically think a franchise sucking would make all the fans not watch them your delusional. The Browns would’ve been eradicated before half of this website’s users were born!
Not to mention when did I say every fan? I said if you don’t like it watch something else. This is America. We have options. You want a say? Vote for the Pro Bowl that’s what you get bud. You don’t get an entitled say to a billionaire’s operation because you like #44 and bought his jersey.
This person doesn’t pay for McDonalds. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gone to a McDonalds in my 60 plus years.
Wendy’s a ton, Burger King some, Taco Bell never. I used to be a Jets season ticket holder. Never again, they put out a consistently bad product.
Woody Johnson, like Jerry Jones in Dallas, needs to separate himself and his family from the day to day operations of the team.
Exactly. You stopped watching. A season ticket holder, and it did nothing to the franchise itself.
No, not exactly. I stopped buying their product, as have many other fans. When enough customers go elsewhere, a smart business changes and adapts better practices. Or the business suffers.
There aren’t many fans or observers that still consider Woody Johnson and Jerry Jones shrewd businessmen.
But where are the Jets and/or Cowboys suffering?? Please point that out to me. They are top 3 in attendance this year lol man they’re hurting so badly. They suck on the field but that hasn’t effected the wallet at all.
lol he mentioned ratings again
This man is a certifiable idiot.
Lmao
I was thinking the same thing. Wouldn’t you want to stay as far away from that word as possible after the stories from last year?
I would
One of the clearest themes in our current society is that billionaires need more capacity for feeling shame.
If only lol
I wouldn’t limit that sentiment only to billionaires.
Certainly not, but their incapacity has bigger problems for the rest of us.
((“We’re all trying to find the guy who did this” banana guy dot gif))
Great plan at QB. Rodgers may be old but Glenn telling him he’d rather have Justin Fields with a straight face is all you need to know. He should be one and done as head coach
Rodgers had a good year with the Jets last year, they gave up on him this year because they’re idiots and Johnson is the NFL’s version of LA Angels Arte Moreno. He didn’t bounce back he just went to a competent team with a competent coach and ownership
Woody Johnson in the 2020s is similar to Robert Irsay in the 1970s.
Don’t play Sportsball Mashup, stick to one sport.
And Jets had Davante Adams, who’s having a good season in LA now. Don’t forget Woody made AR15 fly out to NY to tell him they didn’t want him back, instead of just making a phone call.
Woody Johnson is the only thing Karma gets right.
Fun fact: The Jets started 0-11 in 2020, 0-8 in 1996 and 0-5 1980. All those losing streaks ended on the road against NFC opponents. If the trend continues they should end a 14 game losing streak in New Orleans on Dec 21 🙂
Good betting tip; it’s on my calendar
My goodness. They should play that game on a Wednesday night and have it available for viewing only on public access television. Can you imagine a 1 win Saints team vs an 0-14 Jets team? Double-bagger ugly…no pun intended…
You get what you pay for. This is who Justin Fields has always been, yet people still think he can be a starter in this league.
Two things can be true: Woody is a terrible owner and Justin Fields should not be a starting quarterback. I don’t think Woody should call out his players directly to the media. You keep those things in house.
He could have just said, “We are making a change at QB and see if we can get something going.”
All the other stuff about Fields wasn’t needed. Woody is already a jerk. Why perpetuate that?
Agreed. I mean, most of us are low on Fields as a player, but it draws considerable heat on him to say such things in such a way, especially in public. By all accounts, he seems like a good person and a hard worker. Johnson can respect him while also acknowledging that the team (or just Fields, whatever Johnson wants to say) isn’t getting the job done.
Even if Johnson doesn’t care about Fields’ feelings, whatever chance Fields has to recover is totally dashed by the owner’s public cleaning. You want to maximize the chances that your player can succeed, not minimize them. Even if there is no chance of that, or you don’t think that it’s worth it, consider how it makes you or your team look. Players who might sign with you will notice, and the players who already play for you do, too. The more professional the organization looks, the more professional people will act in dealing with it.
He was just being honest.
Sure. But, in my opinion, it didn’t need to be said.
There are a lot of “honest” things in the world that don’t need to be said.
We can agree to disagree. I think more honesty is needed in this world and I’m not going to take shots at someone who speaks the truth. Justin Fields has absolutely sucked and it’s OK to say it out loud.
If we’re being completely honest then if you’re going to have Justin Fields as your QB you need to have the right personnel to make it work like I’ve said many times. It’s been proven many times that he’ll never be a pocket passer and yet people keep trying. You need smaller, faster O lineman since he’s never where he’s supposed to be. Guys who are fast and can stay in front of him or at best in between him and the D line. Fast WR’s and a solid Running game. I don’t think the Jets have any of that so failure was inevitable from the start. So once again, Is it Fields fault? Sure to a point. But I think it’s more the people who keep trying to make him something he’s not.
Good leaders know how to communicate effectively to whom, where, how, and when.
Yes, we disagree. That’s ok. That’s how it goes in life.
All the best.
Sure, he was honest. Nothing false was said. You have to consider, though, what you’re getting when you put it that way. Yes, you are speaking the truth. With that, though, you’re also destroying whatever chance your player has at rebounding. So Johnson said something true, but also hurt his team’s chances by embarrassing them (further embarrassing, shall we say) and sapping their confidence.
There is a way to criticize and be truthful while minimizing the collateral damage. I mean, you still need him. You could say that Fields and/or the team should just be less sensitive, and you’d be right, but that’s just not reality. Moreover, Johnson doesn’t make himself look good, here. He doesn’t look as honest as he does…well, temperamental, by his choice of words. You have to think about what does the most good, from all aspects. Though they are very similar, there’s a difference between being correct and being right. What Johnson said was correct, but it wasn’t exactly right.
I say Dark Side said it best. He’s an idiot.
This dude is a clown
Sell the team and head to a retirement home
The Steelers absolutely did not want Justin Fields. The story is a force. Give me a break.
Who is the worse owner? Woody or Mark Davis???
Woody. Mark Davis seems like a better person to work for. You don’t see him out here trashing his own players.
jets analytics department is playing madden round the clock to determine who should start
The Jets struggle for one reason…their impulsive owner. Until he leaves football decisions to football people…it will never change…
It’s too bad they can’t mutiny Johnson and trade him to the browns
Just when you think Jerry Jones is the undisputed grand poobah of imbeciles … here comes Woody!
Justin Fields isn’t the answer BUT if they couldn’t make Aaron Rodgers work (who some may have thought was washed but look at this season) then why is Fields or Taylor going to suddenly work. Personnel and cultures issues abound.
Getting back to football, who is this offensive coordinator? The offensive line cant protect, the receivers cant make plays, the runners, including Fields, are okay but not scoring. Engstrand may need to be replaced but they need to bring in more receivers who can help Fields, who has lost his confidence but hasnt thrown interceptions as well. Dont trade Breece Hall, Jets … he can play, he just has to get into the endzone more.
It’s not Engstrand’s fault that their receivers other than Garrett Wilson are an abysmal group. The line is actually decent, but Fields has made them look much worse.
Giants don’t have WRs either, but Dart and that offense is looking pretty good. If the OC can take credit for their success, he can also take it for their failure.