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The Jets got a major endorsement for the decision to sign QB Justin Fields.
“I don’t like the move, I love it,” said ESPN’s Mike Greenberg. “This is overwhelmingly the best the Jets were going to do under the circumstances they found themselves in this off-season.”
The first sentence is fine. He can love the move all he wants. That is his right.
But the second sentence is a little suspicious.
Once again, as we have pointed out many times in this space, the Jets decided to move on from Aaron Rodgers of their own volition.
So when Greenberg says this is “the best the Jets were going to do under the circumstances they found themselves in this off-season,” that is a little bit of a flawed concept.
This goes back to the same analogy we have brought up before – the famous quote from President Abraham Lincoln about the flimsy argument of somebody who “murdered his parents, and then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.”
Look, if Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey, who just took over the Jets football operation, feel that getting rid of Rodgers and starting anew at QB was the way to go, that is their right.
We will see how it turns out.
But Greenberg’s theory that this is the best they could do under the “circumstances,” might be true on some level (not a great free agent QB class), but we always need to keep in mind Glenn and Mougey created these circumstances.
This isn’t a situation, like we have often seen, where a team clearly has no answer at QB, and they sign an average journeyman or start a rookie who is not ready, because they really have no other options, and you understand why they struggle.
I’m not saying the Jets will struggle with Fields. Nobody knows that right now, but it’s time to throw this argument in the dumpster that they need to be cut slack at QB after moving on from Rodgers.
They made that bed, and now they have to sleep in it.
Greenberg is a big fan of Fields as a player.
“I have been a believer in Justin Field going back to his days at Ohio State,” Greenberg said, “I think he has the moxy, personality, make-up and athleticism.”
Nothing in there about reading defense, holding the ball too long and spending too much time waiting for his primary read to get open.
“Moxy and personality” will only get you so far at QB if you are not great at processing and going through your progressions.
So while many Jets fans will be pumped about the Greenberg endorsement of the Fields signing, before they hang there hat on that, they need to find out from the ESPN host what he thinks of the QB’s ability to go through his progressions – one, two, three, checkdown, to manipulate safeties with his eyes, throw with anticipation and things of that nature.
So before we can totally honor this endorsement, we must find out Greenberg’s take on these all-important aspects of playing QB in the NFL.
It’s absolutely fine that he “loves” the move, and he could end up being right for loving the move.
But one thing he and others need to refrain from is lowering the bar and saying, “this is the best they can do.”
They had a good one in their building and under contract, a QB who threw 28 TDs last year, the same as Buffalo’s Josh Allen, who just got one of largest contracts in NFL history.
So please refrain from making the “circumstances” the excuse. They created those circumstances, which is entirely their right as a new regime. It just should not be used as an excuse, especially since the coach said about the decision to release Rodgers, “Every decision that me and Moug make is to win, and to win now.”
March 12, 2025
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