Justin Fields is displaying some early growing pains since leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers for the New York Jets.
On an episode of The Manchild with Boy Green Digital podcast, Jets reporter Nick Faria explained that while Fields has shown a lot to love off the field, his struggles as a QB are showing where it matters most for the new Jets signal-caller:
“You have to be able to win on the field,” Faria said. “Some of the issues that we saw earlier in [Fields’] career — the completion percentage in the fourth quarter, being late on his reads, being a little too slow to process, bailing from the pocket a little bit too early — all of those things have followed him over the last four years with the Chicago Bears and the Pittsburgh Steelers. You are seeing similar things happen at minicamp. You saw it happen, where some of the issues he had — where he was late on some of his throws, he was late in his processing — that was happening at minicamp.”
While Faria acknowledged Fields is still learning a new offense and needs time to build chemistry with his players, his struggles over the past four years may be indicative of what to expect at training camp.
Many Steelers fans were hoping Fields would re-sign with the Steelers, but given his early struggles with the Jets, signing Aaron Rodgers for 2025 and drafting a QB in 2026 may have been the better move for Pittsburgh after all.
Fields has four seasons’ worth of tape that contain the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Rodgers, while struggling early in 2024, rekindled some of his four-time MVP fire in the latter half of the season. The two QBs go head-to-head in Week 1 as the Steelers take on the Jets at MetLife Stadium — in what’s shaping up to be a revenge game for the ages.
