Ahead of Week 12, the New York Jets benched starting quarterback Justin Fields. Tyrod Taylor will start in his place against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, November 23.
ESPN NFL Insider Dan Graziano explained the big reason why the Jets made the switch.
“The Jets’ reason for moving from Justin Fields to Tyrod Taylor has a lot to do with their desire to evaluate the young non-quarterbacks on their roster, especially tight end Mason Taylor and recently acquired wide receivers John Metchie III and Adonai Mitchell,” Graziano wrote. “They haven’t been able to develop any kind of real passing game around Fields, whose running ability wasn’t keeping them competitive in games. They know Tyrod Taylor brings increased turnover risk because he’ll take chances Fields won’t, but they need to figure out what they have in the rest of their receiving corps before making an offseason plan. And they felt they weren’t going to be able to do that with Fields constantly checking it down and/or holding the ball too long.”
The Jets Are Shifting Their Focus to the Long Term
You’d think the Jets’ rationale for benching Fields is their lack of winning. The team is 2-8, and a big reason for that record has been the substandard play of Fields.
However, the green and white have shifted their priorities. Winning is no longer the top reason for making decisions in 2025. It’s about evaluating the talent.
In four of Fields’ starts this season, he has thrown for under 60 passing yards. Not only is that clearly not a winning strategy, but it makes it nearly impossible to evaluate the other players on the team.
While Taylor isn’t great, he is a far superior and more consistent passer of the football compared to Fields.
Jets Won’t Be Flip Flopping on the QB Decision Moving Forward
Head coach Aaron Glenn confirmed on Wednesday, November 19, that Taylor will start in Week 12. However, when Coach Glenn was asked if Taylor would be the starting QB for the rest of the year, Glenn politely responded that Taylor is the starting QB for this week.
Is that gamesmanship? Is that indecisiveness on who his quarterback will be? Despite Coach Glenn not providing the answer publicly, he knows the real truth.
“The move is not expected to be temporary. Unless Taylor gets injured (which he has some history of doing), I don’t get the sense the Jets will go back to Fields this season. And there will certainly be a new quarterback in New York next year, whether it’s via the draft or a veteran outside solution such as Kyler Murray,” Graziano explained. “The Jets owe Fields $10 million in guaranteed salary next year and will take a $22 million dead-money cap hit for 2026 when they inevitably release him in the offseason. Add that to the $35 million dead-money hit they already have on their 2026 cap for [Aaron] Rodgers, and that’ll make $57 million in 2026 cap charges for quarterbacks no longer on the roster. Not ideal.”
The Fields era is over in New York. The next step for the Jets is finding their QB1 for 2026 and beyond.
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