Justin Fields Fantasy Outlook After Inking Deal With Jets
Where does Justin Fields fit into the fantasy landscape after signing a lucrative deal with the New York Jets?
NFL free agency has begun to wind down and the fantasy community continues to digest the player movement, update rankings and projections, and formulate takeaways. The player movement has been fast and furious. The New York Jets made a big splash by signing Justin Fields to be their new starting quarterback. Fields signed a two-year, $40 million offer, with $30 million guaranteed. He will now take over the post-Aaron Rodgers Jet offense that ranked bottom half in total offense and scoring. Fields is a bit of a conundrum when it comes to quarterback play, his fantasy stats and real-life play do not always jive.
Justin Fields Fantasy Outlook After Inking Deal With Jets
Justin Fields As A Real Life NFL Quarterback
Last season as the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback, Justin Fields posted a 4-2 won/loss record. However, as we dove into his passing metrics, his record was not indicative of how he played the position. The numbers were very damning on Fields as a real-life quarterback. Among 43 qualifying signal callers from a clean pocket, Fields was bottom 7 in the fastest time to throw, success rate, and EPA/attempt. In another key quarterback data point, he was bottom-15 in yards per attempt. This means he was not adept at consistently getting the ball down the field. Now to be fair, the Steelers did not ask of much of Fields overall offensively but you can see he struggled as a passer in 2024. To put the data into perspective only the Panthers duo of Bryce Young and Any Dalton were worse.
The QB1 Potential Is There For Fields In Fantasy
Some Fantasy pundits will look at Fields’ aforementioned quarterback metrics and say that is irrelevant when it comes to fantasy production. In the six games as the Steelers starter, Fields ranked as a top-12 quarterback averaging just under 19 fantasy points. He had 10 total touchdowns, and his fantasy stats were buoyed by his rushing prowess. Fields added 231 rushing yards and five scores on the ground. His 18.8 fantasy points per game would have finished the season as the QB7. Putting him just behind Jared Goff and in front of Bo Nix. Playing in 15 games for the Chicago Bears in 2022, Fields finished as the overall QB6.
