The New York Jets placed quarterback Justin Fields on injured reserve Tuesday, ending his 2025 season and potentially his tenure with the franchise. Fields missed the last three games with a knee injury that coach Aaron Glenn said did not heal in a timely enough fashion for the signal-caller to return to the field this year.
Fields started for the Jets for the majority of the season before ceding his job to Tyrod Taylor. The latter has been dealing with a pair of injuries of his own, which opened the door for Brady Cook to make back-to-back starts the last two weeks. Cook, an undrafted rookie, projects to remain in the lineup for Sunday’s divisional game against the New England Patriots.
While Fields was inactive for the last three games, he was designated last week as the Jets’ emergency quarterback.
“We’re gonna put Justin on IR,” Glenn said. “We tried to see how we can get this to work, but it wasn’t getting as better as we would like it. We want to make sure we get a focus on that to make sure we get him better.”
Fields said last week that he underwent an MRI on the injured knee and that the imaging revealed an issue that would keep him out on a “week-to-week” basis. The injury occurred in practice ahead of the Dec. 7 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
The IR designation closes the book on Fields’ season and leaves him with a 2-7 record as the Jets’ starter. It was an up-and-down year for the former first-round pick wherein the lows were tremendously low and the high points were few and far between. Fields threw for fewer than 55 yards in four of his nine starts and in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills completed just three of his 11 pass attempts in one of the worst games by an NFL quarterback this season.
Although he threw just one interception on the year, Fields was highly inefficient in completing 62.7% of his passes for 1,259 yards. He did make an impact as a ballcarrier, though, rushing for 383 yards and four touchdowns.
Will Justin Fields return to the Jets in 2026?
Fields signed with the Jets last spring on a two-year, $40 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. While he remains under contract through 2026, it became clear this season that he is unlikely to be part of the team’s long-term plans, and both sides could likely benefit from parting ways at the end of the year.
Adding to the likelihood that Fields and the Jets break up before the 2026 season is the fact that New York will receive an early-first round draft pick and could use it on a quarterback. Unless they feel as though Cook could develop into a capable starter, the leader of their 2026 offense is probably not yet on their roster.
The Jets would incur $22 million in dead cap space if they cut Fields after the season. Fields could command interest on the trade market as a backup, though, and still possesses upside as a potential post-hype breakout candidate in the right situation.
