New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields is entering just his first season with Gang Green, but it feels like a prove-it year for the 2021 first-round pick. If he's destined to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL, he'll prove it -- in 2025 -- in New York.
Early returns on Fields have been positive, but that's generally the case across the league this time of year. Optimism reigns supreme, especially when it comes to new quarterbacks who join a franchise as desperate as the Jets to find a solution at the game's most important position.
Armed with a solid offensive line and a cast of skill players capable of making big plays, Justin Fields could finally have a breakthrough season this fall and establish himself as a QB that a franchise can bank on, which is exactly what happens in a recent 2026 NFL mock draft from Sports Illustrated.
During the Jets 1st OTA practice, Justin Fields hit a top sprint speed of 21.86 MPH wearing a GPS tracking vest
— NYJ Matt (@NYJ_Matt) May 22, 2025
This is the fastest recorded sprint speed at a Jets practice since Next Gen Stats began tracking OTAs in 2017 pic.twitter.com/YRqY7tATgu
In this first-round projection, the Jets own the No. 6 overall pick, and rather than use the high first-rounder on a quarterback, New York attacks the trenches and selects Clemson defensive lineman Peter Woods.
"The Jets certainly could take a quarterback in this spot if their gamble on Justin Fields doesn’t pay off, but Woods, coupled with Quinnen Williams, Jermaine Johnson II and Will McDonald IV, gives New York a quality defensive front," SI's Daniel Flick wrote. "At 6' 3" and 315 pounds, Woods is big, strong, scheme-versatile and loaded with upside. He just needs more seasoning, and figures to get it in 2025."
It's not like the Jets didn't have a chance to take a QB in this mock draft, either. South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers gets selected one pick later at No. 7 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Here's the point: Justin Fields is already building confidence in the national media that he can not only be a solid QB for the New York Jets in 2025, but that he'll be so good that the team will build a roster around him moving forward. And if that happens this year, the Jets will be a very dangerous team in the AFC.
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