Palm Beach – On Sunday, at the NFL League Meeting in Florida, Jets GM Darren Mougey announced Justin Fields as the team’s starting quarterback.
“We believe Justin is the starter,” Mougey said.
One theory you hear a lot is they made this decision because of how much money Fields got in free agency.
The Jets gave the former Chicago Bear and Pittsburgh Steeler a two-year deal for $40 million with $30 million guaranteed.
So people theorize, “When you pay a guy that kind of money, of course he’s going to be your starter.”
If this is true, it shouldn’t be.
You shouldn’t name starters based of contract numbers.
Players need to earn the starting jobs, no matter how much coin they are making.
Now, obviously, if you sign a superstar from another team to a big-money deal, and he’s had a great career, of course, he’s going to start.
But if somebody has had an up-and-down career, it’s not ideal to hand him the starting job just because you gave him a big contract.
What kind of message does that send about competition?
Now, in fairness, the Jets didn’t say he was named the starter due to the largesse of his contract.
But teams seldom would admit that publicly
Just saying the decision to start Fields should strictly be based on merit, not his contract.
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