The Jets’ benching of Justin Fields is “not expected to be temporary,” per ESPN’s Dan Graziano. Barring injury, Tyrod Taylor is slated to start for the rest of the 2025 season, and Fields is likely to leave New York this offseason.
The Jets believe it will be easier to evaluate their young pass-catchers – particularly rookie tight end Mason Taylor and wideouts John Metchie and Adonai Mitchell – with Tyrod Taylor under center. The 36-year-old quarterback is more willing to play within the structure of the offense as opposed to Fields, who is more liable to hold onto the ball, throw a check down to a running back, or take off on a scramble. Though Taylor has three interceptions in 69 attempts compared to Fields’ one in 204 attempts, the Jets are willing to weather the risk of interception in exchange for more opportunities for their skill players.
The team is also planning to find a new quarterback this offseason, whether it be a rookie draft pick or another veteran acquisition. The draft from the Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams trades has given New York enough draft capital to land nearly any available passer in the offseason.
The Jets are also expected to part ways with Fields after the 2025 season concludes. $10MM of his $20MM salary in 2026 is guaranteed; between that and his poor performance, he is unlikely to draw trade interest and will likely be released as a post-June 1 cut. That would save $10MM against the Jets’ 2026 salary cap with a $13MM dead cap charge with another $9MM of dead money in 2027. However, the team has more than $70MM of dead money to account for next year, per OverTheCap, including $35MM from Aaron Rodgers, $11MM from Gardner, and $9.8MM from Williams. The Jets may prefer to push as much dead cap from Fields’ deal into 2027.
They could do so by converting his remaining guaranteed salary into a signing bonus and prorating it across the remainder of his contract. The Jets’ 2026 savings would stay at $10MM, but only $5MM of Fields’ dead money would hit with the remaining $17MM being pushed to 2027. Fields’ deal already has four void years built in, suggesting that the team wanted to have this contract option in case 2025 went poorly, which it did. The first three void years were used to prorate his signing bonus, while the fourth was left empty in case of a 2026 restructure. Adding a void year to a contract, even for purposes of a restructure, requires player consent, which Fields may not give. Instead, general manager Darren Mougey designed his deal to ensure that the Jets had more flexibility after the 2025 season.
It almost feels like Mougey and new head coach Aaron Glenn saw 2025 as a reset year in New York. They took a chance on Fields without too hefty of a commitment; once it became clear that he was not the Jets’ long-term quarterback, they pivoted to blow up the core of their roster. Now, they have enough draft capital to acquire a quarterback and the opportunity to complete rebuild the Jets from the ground up.
I wonder if they used the Madden ratings to determine this.
personally I do not envision a mid-career renaissance from Fields a la Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones because Fields’ major issue is quick-thinking & decision-making, and this is a flaw that he has not demonstrated improvement on in during his 5 NFL seasons.
It seems that fundamentally his hardware cannot process NFL speeds
I maintain the opinion that, in the right system, Fields could be a serviceable NFL QB that could get you somewhere between seven and nine wins. That’s not exciting, I know. But, I would like to see what he could do in a stable situation, with an offensive HC.
The Jets aren’t that team.
Use Taylor to evaluate Metchie and Mitchell!? Leftover scraps from other teams. 😂
Mitchell is very much worth a look. He was a second rounder last year, he got stuck behind a strong group, and while the flaws in his game are major and frustrating, he’s still very talented, especially compared to what the Jets have after Wilson.
I don’t understand y they didn’t demand A.
Richardson or Joe Milton when they made those trades neither player or going to be a starter for their respectable teams
I know Richardson (or Milton) is trash but so is every qb on their current roster and everyone they ever drafted so y not see if he could turn into something by the end of the yr what does it really hurt to try maybe they find gold
(Im a pats fan)
Hello to all Jets fans. Sooooo are they losing on purpose for Manning or some other QB? Who do you want??
Sign Mac Jones and fill out the holes with all the picks, none of the QB in this draft are very good
I mean, permanent as long as a 36-year old who’s been hurt a lot stays healthy.
Think the Fields as a QB experiment has to end, convert him to a RB
Or a WR a la Ronald Curry.
Signing Fields was the equivalent of Mets signing Montas.