Gang Green Nation
Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. It’s time to take a look at what quarterback Justin Fields did for the New York Jets in their narrow loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Far from the first-round draft bust he had been portrayed to be, Fields looked like a quarterback in (nearly) complete command of his new offense.
Justin Fields’ NFL career had devolved to the point where nobody expected much from him at all.
The 11th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Ohio State had three seasons with the Chicago Bears in which the results were more unimpressive than not, and while it wasn’t all Fields’ fault — Chicago’s offenses at the time under Bill Lazor and Luke Getsy weren’t exactly world-beaters — but by the end of the 2023 season, the Bears were ready to move on. They did so by trading Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick, and selecting USC’s Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 draft.
We’re still waiting to see how the Williams experiment turns out, but Fields was in for another career dip in the Steel City. He got starting reps early in the season while Russell Wilson recovered from injury, and then was summarily dismissed to the role of backup and occasional gadget player when Wilson returned to the stage.
Then, it was on to the new-look New York Jets under head coach Aaron Glenn and offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, formerly the Detroit Lions’ pas game coordinator under Ben Johnson. As everybody reading this knows, the Jets haven’t exactly been on an all-time streak when it comes to great offensive minds in the building (Nathaniel Hackett? Really?), but the hope was that Engstrand could make the most out of Fields. The Jets were cautious with the equation; that’s why Fields only got a two-year, $40 million contract with $30 million guaranteed that made him one of the lowest-paid starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
Perhaps even the Jets didn’t completely expect what they got from Fields in his debut. Against a Steelers defense that ranked eighth in DVOA last season, Fields completed 16 of 22 passes for 218 yards, one touchdown, and four explosive passes…
…and as a runner (which most people would tell you is where his game starts and ends), Fields gained 48 yards and scored two touchdowns on 12 carries.
Unfortunately, Fields couldn’t quite pull the win out against his former team. With the Steelers up 34-32, the Jets had the ball with 25 seconds left in the game, with fourth-and-2, and the ball at their own 38-yard line. Fields tried to hit receiver Garrett Wilson with a short pass when he probably had the first down himself with a scramble, and Jalen Ramsey put a stop to THAT.
Still, the Jets may have something real here, and...
