The New York Jets have a decision to make at quarterback. Do they stick with Justin Fields, who has been struggling over the past two games, or do they go with veteran Tyrod Taylor?
No one knows, and no one will continue to know, at least publicly.
On Wednesday, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn was asked who would be the starter when New York travels to Cincinnati to play the Bengals.
“We will have a quarterback on Sunday,” Glenn said. “I will tell you that… I wouldn’t want to give them a competitive advantage when I have that opportunity, but we’ll have a quarterback…. I know who the starting quarterback is going to be.”
This week, Jets owner Woody Johnson was very critical of Fields and the Jets’ passing game.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that he’s got,” Johnson said. “I mean, he has ability, but something just is not jiving… If we can just complete a pass, it would look good.”
Fields, who said he was initially unaware of Johnson’s comments, says he’s unbothered by the criticism.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Fields said. “It doesn’t. Of course, everybody knows I need to play better, we need to play better as a team, and of course no matter how the offense does as a unit, I’m going to get the blame and I understand that. That’s just what comes with the job. Honestly, it’s what comes with it, so you can’t let anything affect your mind, my mind, and that is what it is. No matter if it’s him, no matter if it’s family members, or even teammates sometimes. There’s going to be times where you have to be the only one who believes in yourself. Like I said, that’s his opinion, and like I told you guys after the game on Sunday, I’m at peace and all my focus is right now is working each and every day and getting better, so yeah.”
At this point, Fields, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Jets this offseason, does not plan to talk to Johnson.
“I mean, I don’t think me talking to him is going to do anything,” Fields said. “Like I said, it’s not going to make me play better, it’s not going to give me more confidence on the field, so I don’t think there’s necessarily a point in talking about that, and I doubt he’ll come and talk to me. I’m not sure how he feels about the situation at all, but I mean, I don’t have any plans of going up to press him about what he said. Like I said, everybody’s entitled to their opinion, that’s just what it is, but you just have a choice or not whether those opinions affect you or not.”
With the trade deadline approaching, the 26-year-old Fields was asked if he would be open to a trade if the team decides to go with Taylor.
“I don’t like answering those questions, those what-if, quote-unquote what-if questions,” Fields said. “I’m not going to do that because that’s not going to do anything for me, that’s not going to do anything for this team. If anything, that’s going to put on a subject that the team is going to not focus on and the biggest focus right now is this game on Sunday. So, that’s just going to stir up more stuff that we don’t need.”
We’ll see where the Jets go, but after Johnson’s comments, it seems Taylor will be the choice.
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