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Justin Fields was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday.
Aaron Glenn was asked if he was disappointed in how Fields’ season went.
“I said this last time, and this is for any player, any player that doesn’t have the season that we would like for them to have, that it’s always disappointing,” Glenn said.
Objectively speaking, there really shouldn’t be a ton of disappointment.
Fields played similarly to how he performed in his first four years in the league, three with Chicago and one with Pittsburgh.
He is a great athlete with a rare combination of great speed and a howitzer arm, but he is mainly a one-read-and-run QB with an internal clock in the pocket that needs to operate faster.
He has his moments where his wheels and rocket arm create good plays, but there is a lot of inconsistency between those highlight film plays, so it’s hard to sustain drives with that kind of up-and-down play.
But that was exactly what the film told us from his first four years, and as Bill Parcells liked to say, “When a player shows you who he is, believe him.”
So if you could make the argument that it’s unfair to rip the player for how he played this year, but the criticism should be more on the scouting that led to the signing and the largesse of his contract.
If Daniel Jones got a two-year, $8.1 million deal with $4.75 million guaranteed from San Francisco, why would Fields get a two-year $40 million deal with $30 million guaranteed from the Jets? Different skill sets, but similar type of journeyman in terms of prior results.
The Jets’ new regime got rid of a QB who had won twice as many games as he lost and is going to the Hall-of-Fame one day, for a QB with a 14-30 record entering this season.
While it’s essentially unacceptable in the echo chamber to question the decision to move on from the QB who currently has Pittsburgh in first place, but to me, it’s certainly worth having an intelligent conversation about.
But fair-minded people should have an issue with how Fields played this year.
It was the same film as his first four NFL seasons . . .
It’s definitely a little surprising how much the Jets have struggled on defense in 2025, considering the head coach they hired made his bones as a defensive coach (and player) before getting his first head coaching opportunity this year.
While nobody expected the 1985 Chicago Bears defense from the Jets this year, who thought it would be this bad, considering this is Aaron Glenn’s team?
Especially against the pass in the back seven.
There have been too many blown coverage. When it comes to pass coverage, how many people on the planet know more about that art than Glenn, who was a great cover corner during his playing days?
Against Jacksonville, QB Trevor Lawrence tossed five touchdown passes, often throwing to wide-open targets.
Against New Orleans, QB Tyler Shough threw a pair of touchdown passes to star receiver Chris Olave, who was wide open on both plays.
How does a WR of this magnitude get this wide open twice for touchdowns?
Shouldn’t he be the guy you are clamping down on the most, and let other players beat you?
I asked Glenn about these coverage issues on Tuesday.
“Yeah, we talked about that today as far as one of the things that has to be an emphasis defensively, and the coverage busts can’t happen,” Glenn said. “The one thing I did explain to the players is that the ball travels faster in the air than it does on the ground, and usually when that happens, that results in points. So, we have to make sure that we don’t allow those explosive plays, and a lot of that is just coverage discipline.”
At some point, Glenn is going to have to separate the wheat from the chaff with this defense.
There are players he is supporting publicly now, who might not be the best people for certain jobs in 2026.
At this point on the NFL calendar, it’s really hard to find players who can replace struggling players. In December, there aren’t any street free agents who are going to come in and save the day.
So you gotta roll with certain guys who might not be ideal long-term answers at certain positions.
There are certain players they clearly need to move on from, and if Glenn re-ups some of them, that is a bad sign for his regime in 2026.
But man, way too many blown coverages and explosive plays are being given up by this defense.
And that is somewhat surprising, considering the head coach is a coverage aficionado from his playing and coaching career . . .
Speaking of coverage, Jets cornerback AZ Thomas was spotted in the locker room today with a sling on his left arm. He is on IR with a shoulder injury. Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee is no longer using crutches on his injured hip.
December 24, 2025
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