Jets place Justin Fields on injured reserve, ending disappointing season

Antwan Staley, New York Daily News on Dec 23, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — Justin Fields‘ disastrous first season with the New York Jets has officially come to an end.

On Tuesday, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn announced that the team is placing Fields on injured reserve for the final two games, thus ending his season.

Fields has been suffering from knee soreness since the beginning of the month. He hasn’t played since the Jets benched him following their Nov. 13 game loss to the Patriots.

On Monday morning, Glenn announced that undrafted rookie quarterback Brady Cook would start against the Patriots on Sunday. Tyrod Taylor, who was the Jets starting quarterback before suffering a groin injury in the Jets’ Week 14 loss to the Dolphins, will serve as Cook’s backup.

Glenn didn’t specify if Fields would need surgery on his knee.

“I’m going to let the doc hone in on that,” Glenn said. “If he does, it’s a great time to get it done, so he can get it knocked out and get himself healthy. We wanna make sure we get this thing healthy and get it ready.”

In March, Jets general manager Darren Mougey and Glenn took a chance on Fields after signing him to a two-year, $40 million contract, hoping he could be the latest quarterback to have a late-career renaissance with a different team. But Fields flopped after leading the Jets to a 2-7 record in his nine starts this season and was an unmitigated disaster.

Fields is 27th out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks in Total QBR (37.3). He also passed for 1,259 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception. The Jets are dead last in passing yards per game (145.9) in part because of Fields’ play most of the season. He was often hesitant to get the ball out of his hands in the pocket and reluctant to consistently throw the ball down the field.

Fields’ play was so horrific that Jets owner Woody Johnson publicly criticized him at the NFL Fall Meetings in Manhattan in October after the team started the season 0-7.

Last Friday, Fields told reporters that he had an MRI on his knee and said his status would be week-to-week.

“This is for any player that doesn’t have the season that we would like for them to have, it’s always disappointing,” Glenn said. “I just don’t want to focus on Justin with this and I know that’s the question asked.

“But any player that we have high hopes for and the season doesn’t go the way we want it to go, we are always disappointed in that.”

Fields is due to make $20 million next season, including $10 million guaranteed, but his status with the team is in flux. It is likely the Jets will search for a new quarterback next offseason, either a high rookie draft pick, a veteran, or both. If that’s the case, Fields would likely be a cap casualty.

The Jets could release Fields with a post-June 1 designation and save $10 million. When asked if Fields would be back next season, Glenn declined to answer.

“We will see how that goes," Glenn said. “We are focused on New England.”

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