Last season, former Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor signed with the New York Jets to back up Aaron Rodgers, who was coming off a season-ending injury the year before. After playing well for the New York Giants the year before, Taylor knew he was another Rodgers injury away from starting again.
Rodgers ended up playing most of last season and Taylor finished with 119 yards passing, three touchdowns and a QB rating of 128.6. Rodgers and New York split after the season and he is now a free agent, still wanting to play in the NFL. You can't blame him for not wanting to go out the way the last two seasons for the Jets went after a stellar career in Green Bay.
Without Rodgers, that meant that New York needed another quarterback for the upcoming season with Taylor. Which direction the Jets were going to go was not known as they were not likely to find someone in the draft to come in and start right away. On Monday, the first day of NFL free agency, they signed their guy and it is a former first-round bust.
New York Jets sign Justin Fields to start over Tyrod Taylor
NFL free agency opened with a boom on Monday and the Jets signed their signal caller for the next two years in former Ohio State QB Justin Fields. Drafted No. 11 overall by the Chicago Bears in the 2021 NFL Draft, Fields spent three years with the Bears before being traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers last March.
He stated the year as Pittsburgh's quarterback, but when veteran Russell Wilson was cleared after a calf injury in mid-October, Fields was sent to the bench. Now, he'll follow the foot steps of Rodgers in New York, but if there is one thing we've learned in his young pro football career, Taylor should be ready at any moment to be called on to replace the former Buckeye.