Justin Fields Fails to Win Confidence as Jets QB After Aaron Glenn Made Feelings Clear – Report

For a quarterback who was pegged to be ‘top 5 in the league’ before he even stepped into the NFL, Justin Fields is sure inviting a cloud of doubt. He hasn’t played one NFL snap for the Jets, and fans are labelling him as the weak link of the franchise. And amidst all the criticism, CBS analyst Garrett Podell elevated the hate train to a different level.

Yeah, on CBS’s roundtable, Podell slotted the Jets dead last in the AFC East and hung the verdict on one thing: quarterback play. He pointed back to Justin Fields’ stint in Pittsburgh, where Fields held the job over Russell Wilson for six weeks but still oversaw an attack that sputtered very few passing yards per game.

“My pick for last place in the AFC East is the Jets. And it’s because the Pittsburgh QB who started ahead of Russell Wilson for the first six weeks was Justin Fields. And their passing offense averaged under 200 passing yards per game. Fields just hasn’t displayed an aptitude in the NFL to be a guy who can beat you with his arm. I think that’s what’s gonna hinder the Jets,” he said. Strong words, but are they justified?

Podell’s question cuts to the core: can Fields actually win from the pocket when defenses load up to stop his legs? In Pittsburgh last year, he opened as the starter while Russell Wilson nursed a calf injury and went 4–2 in that stretch. Efficiency was there on paper: 65.8% completions, five touchdowns to one pick, 289 rushing yards, and five more scores on the ground. But the passing volume was always a problem.

Podell’s “under 200” line mirrors what those Steelers wins actually looked like. Take Week 6 against the Raiders: Pittsburgh stole the game despite failing to crack 300 total yards, leaning hard on Najee Harris, who ripped off 123 rushing yards and posted +63 Rushing Yards Over Expected. The ground game did the heavy lifting while the passing attack stayed in the passenger seat.

And August didn’t exactly cool down the nerves either. In his preseason cameos, Fields managed just 4-of-9 passing for 46 yards (a 60.4 rating). Oh, and the film shows zero throws travelling beyond nine air yards. The sample size is tiny, but the stat feeds the narrative: all quick stuff, no vertical stress. For a fanbase already sceptical of his pocket growth, that’s the kind of detail that snowballs into a headline. But no one is a better judge than Aaron Glenn, and he just made his feelings clear.

Aaron Glenn made his feelings known

Aaron Glenn is already getting a crash course in what comes with the Jets’ headset: every snap from the quarterback gets magnified. On Tuesday, the new head coach couldn’t hide a mix of irritation and bemusement at how Justin Fields’ two preseason outings have been dissected like regular-season playoff tape.

“You have so many people who want to talk about a small amount of plays. And then everything is falling down because we throw six passes (it was five). Then, he’s Johnny Unitas when we throw four passes. So, it bothers me, and I laugh at it quite a bit. But the thing is, I understand it because that’s the noise that happens on the outside,” he said. And if that’s how he feels after some preseason cameos, imagine how it’s going to be once the season starts.

He knows that the fans are worried about Fields’ passing game, but he isn’t too bothered. Jets’ head coach said he’s “very confident” in what the regular-season passing attack will look like and pushed back on the rush to judge Fields off “five or six passes.”

And the Jets are backing Fields until he gives them a reason not to. They’ve paired him back up with his Ohio State running mate Garrett Wilson and dropped him into a backfield that leans on Breece Hall, with Aaron Glenn and Thomas Engstrand selling a system built on run-action rhythm. They believe in him, even if the fans and analysts don’t.