Garrett Wilson got used to teammates approaching him in the Jets locker room this spring to talk about new quarterback Justin Fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys come up to me and say, \u2018That\u2019s my guy.\u2019 I already know. It\u2019s been super cool. He\u2019s got a different way about him,\u201d said Wilson, who played with Fields at Ohio State. \u201cHe\u2019s more quiet when it comes to getting to know people. It\u2019s not going to be that first day, but when it does click it\u2019s like, \u2018Man, this dude is super cool, like super cool.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Fields spent the spring winning over his new Jets teammates and establishing himself as a leader. It comes with the job description of being an NFL quarterback, and Fields knows it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of had a feeling when I got here, guys were looking for a leader to step up on offense, so I was glad to receive that role, and of course been pushing the guys each and every day to be our best and play up to our standard,\u201d Fields said.<\/p>\n
Jets quarterback Justin Fields answers questions from reporters at NFL football minicamp, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
But Fields is a much different leader than Aaron Rodgers, his predecessor at the position. Coach Aaron Glenn has praised the \u201cquiet confidence\u201d Fields projects. There was nothing quiet about Rodgers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take to him because he is authentic and he\u2019s himself,\u201d Glenn said of Fields. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing that players can pick out is someone that\u2019s fake, and there\u2019s nothing about him that\u2019s fake. So, I love everything about the player, I love everything about the way he carries himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jets players are not outwardly comparing Fields and Rodgers, but something running back Breece Hall said this spring stood out. He mentioned Fields\u2019 age (26) and how that helps him relate to his teammates. Rodgers was the oldest player in the NFL last year and is now 41.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou know, he gets hyped like everybody else,\u201d Hall said of Fields. \u201cHe\u2019s young like us. So we talk about a lot of the same stuff. You know, we can hang out on the weekends, and it\u2019s just been cool to be around. He\u2019s a good dude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fields organized off-field activities with his teammates to get to know them this spring and has embraced that part of the job. No one will care, of course, if he does not play well this season, but the Jets have been encouraged by what they saw from Fields this spring.<\/p>\n
The team decided to sign him to a two-year, $40 million contract hoping they can witness him turn his career around in a Jets uniform.<\/p>\n
Jets quarterback Justin Fields (7) throws at minicamp in Florham Park, NJ. Bill Kostroun\/New York Post<\/p>\n
There have been encouraging signs over the past two years. In his past 13 games \u2014 six with the Steelers last year and seven with the Bears in 2023 \u2014 Fields has completed 63.3 percent of his passes and thrown 10 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He has run 132 times for 651 yards and eight touchdowns in that span.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just growth,\u201d Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. \u201cGoing through his career, just continuing to stack experience along with it, and then ultimately [he] ends up winning four games out of the six [in 2024]. You just see some of the things that are starting to develop in his game, and then you look at that and you go, \u2018That\u2019s pretty good. We can do some things with that.\u2019 And that\u2019s kind of I think where it started, and then, of course, all the other things that everybody talks about, that\u2019s real. Those things are real, and we\u2019re excited to get going with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
ets quarterbacks Justin Fields (7), Tyrod Taylor (2) and Brady Cook (4) run at minicamp in Florham Park, NJ. Bill Kostroun\/New York Post<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Tight end Jeremy Ruckert also played with Fields at Ohio State. He said Fields has the right makeup to thrive here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, ever since he walked on campus with us at Ohio State, coming from Georgia, you sense the seriousness about him, the competitiveness,\u201d Ruckert said. \u201cHe\u2019s super athletic. But I think the biggest thing about him is his mental toughness. Nothing\u2019s going to rattle him. He\u2019s good for this team and this area, and he wants the pressure. He\u2019s built for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garrett Wilson got used to teammates approaching him in the Jets locker room this spring to talk about…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":60697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[12940,12942,5287,1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-60696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-garrett-wilson","9":"tag-justin-fields","10":"tag-new-york-jets","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114842661191706642","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}