The Justin Fields experiment as the starting quarterback of the New York Jets has officially ended—this time, likely for good. After spurning the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Jets during the 2025 offseason, the polarizing quarterback attempted to prove himself as an NFL starter. Unfortunately, he did just the opposite.
On Monday, NFL insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic confirmed that the Jets are officially pulling Fields from the starting lineup and replacing him with long-time NFL backup, Tyrod Taylor.
The decision comes after yet another underwhelming performance during the 2025 season—this time against the New England Patriots. In Week 11, Fields completed just 15 of 26 passes for 116 yards (4.5 yards per attempt). Though he did throw one touchdown pass and rushed in another, he earned just an 81.6 passer rating while leading his team to 14 points.
While Fields did enough to help his team muster up back-to-back wins against the Bengals and Browns before the Week 11 Patriots loss, the Jets have decided it's time to move on. Now, Fields is finally experiencing the full Russell Wilson treatment since leaving the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are once again justified for letting a QB walk in free agency
Like Fields, Russell Wilson left the Steelers during the 2025 free agency period to join a new team. Unfortunately for the 10-time Pro Bowler, Wilson was out of a job after just three starts, when he was forced to take a back seat to rookie Jaxson Dart.
Though Fields was able to outlast Wilson as a starter for a New York football team in 2025, you could make the case that he should have been benched even sooner.
The former Steelers quarterback began his 2025 campaign by losing his first six games as a starting quarterback for the Jets. His brief starting tenure in New York finishes with a sad 2-7 record. At the time of his benching, Fields ranked 27th in EPA and 30th in QBR, per ESPN stats.
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The results speak for themselves. Fields had as many games with under 55 passing yards (4) as he did passing for over 150 yards. Entering Week 12, the Jets are dead last in passing yards per game with just 139.9 per contest.
Nobody was rooting for the former first-round pick to fail, but the Pittsburgh Steelers can feel more vindicated than ever that both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields couldn't even make it through their first season since leaving the team without getting benched. After how poorly things went with the New York Jets, there might not be another team out there willing to give Fields a shot as a starter.