How Justin Fields looked, and perfect attendance on a rainy day: Observations from Jets OTAs

New York Times

22-05-2025

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — It was cold and wet on Wednesday at the Jets' practice facility, but everyone was there anyway. These workouts are all voluntary, yet there stood 91 men wearing Jets uniforms. That was the case on Tuesday and, Aaron Glenn is pretty sure, on Wednesday too.
That's 100 percent attendance. No contract holdouts, no pre-planned vacations to faraway lands, just a young football team, out on the field, practicing together when they don't have to. That includes two stars seeking new contracts, still showing up to get to know their new teammates, their new coaches, their new quarterback. This might not amount to much in the end, but it's at least a sign that, in these early days, the new-look Jets are buying into the culture Glenn is trying to build.
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Quinnen Williams might be more at liberty to speak on that than anyone; he's the second-longest tenured Jet behind long snapper Thomas Hennessy. Williams has bore witness to turmoil and turnover and a whole lot of losing. He's never sniffed the playoffs as a Jet. He's on his third head coach (fourth if you count 2024 interim coach Jeff Ulbrich) and third defensive coordinator, and it's the fourth time since Williams got here that the Jets have invested in a new quarterback (from Sam Darnold to Zach Wilson to Aaron Rodgers to Justin Fields). When the Jets announced Rodgers was being released in February, Williams — who hadn't spoken to Glenn yet at that point — vented his frustration on Twitter about the prospect of going through another rebuild.
Then he spoke to Glenn, and now he's met him — Williams' tune has changed. He said he regrets sending the tweet, calling it immature, and said that understanding his new coach has changed his frame of mind. He sees it working on his teammates too. Just look at the perfect attendance.
'It just goes to show you the belief we have in the new staff, the new head coach and the new regime, the new organization and the way we want to get this thing going,' Williams said. 'Especially for the guys that have been here for the last two to three years, or four years, and want to go in the right direction to win football games.'
Glenn, though, still feels the Jets are far away from finding out if his new culture is really permeating, really making a difference.
'The real sign of where your culture is really starting to get to where you want is when adversity hits,' Glenn said. 'And we haven't hit any adversity. What I do know is we have a lot of our guys here — all of our guys here. And that tells me one thing: Our guys are buying in. They believe. They don't have to be here. So when I look at culture right now, I look at how many guys are showing up, and how are they working.'
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On Wednesday, media members got their first look at how the new-look Jets are working. Here are some observations from the second practices of OTAs…
It was a light practice. They all are this time of the year — there is no tackling and no pads — but it was still at least notable watching Fields running things with the starters for the first time. His mobility and ability to escape pressure was obvious right away, and he had to evade pressure quite a bit during team drills.
The defensive line tends to have the advantage this time of the year in team drills because of the lack of true contact, but by my count Fields was either heavily pressured or sacked on six of his 10 dropbacks during 11-on-11 drills. He was able to get away and gain some yards rushing on a couple occasions, but he didn't have a lot of time to take shots down the field.
One thing was obvious right away though: Fields will be looking Garrett Wilson's way early and often this spring — and when the summer and fall roll around too. That shouldn't come as a surprise, but their connection back to their days at Ohio State is obvious, to the point that it seems like Fields is more comfortable trying to thread difficult throws to Wilson knowing there's a decent chance he'll find a way to come down with it.
'We've been picking up where we left off,' Wilson said.
Two of Fields' four throws during seven-on-seven drills were completed to Wilson; on one of them, he hit Wilson on a slant in front of cornerback Brandon Stephens. In a two-minute drill at the end of practice in 11-on-11, Fields threw it a little away from Wilson but Wilson was still able to stretch his arms and make an impressive catch in the middle of the field. Tight end Jeremy Ruckert — another Ohio State alum — also received a heavy dose of work in team drills with Fields.
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There weren't any particularly pretty passes, and Fields did miss an open tight end (Stone Smartt) down the field during that two-minute drill, but keep in mind that it was rainy, windy and this was his second practice with this group of players.
All told, I had him completing 4 of 5 passes in 11-on-11 drills while getting sacked four or five times. The two-minute drill: Wilson catch, incompletion, sack, sack.
Defensive end Will McDonald looks different — and not just because he changed his number from 99 to 9. McDonald is coming off a breakout season (10.5 sacks) and added 15 pounds of muscle to his frame since, something that the previous Jets coaching staff was pushing him to do since he came out of Iowa State as an undersized edge rusher.
The new weight didn't seem to impact his explosiveness. McDonald was dominant on Wednesday, beating rookie tackle Armand Membou (and others) on a few occasions, quickly getting to Fields in the backfield. He would have had at least two sacks if the Jets were calling them.
'(Bulking up) allows him to be able to set the edge a lot better,' Glenn said. 'He has a skillset as far as rushing the passer — I haven't been around a lot of guys like what we have with him. I'm going to enjoy seeing what he can do with us. We're going to let him loose, we're going to let him get the passer, that's what he does best.'
Wilson admits he hasn't been great at hiding his emotions when he's frustrated — and he's been frustrated a lot through three NFL seasons, even if it's hard to blame him considering all the turmoil around him. Despite that, Wilson has consistently been one of the Jets' best players and a leader; he's showing up for voluntary OTAs even in an offseason when he wants a new contract. (Same for cornerback Sauce Gardner, by the way.)
Not only has Wilson shown up for OTAs, but he was in attendance for every day of offseason workouts up to this point too. For him, it was never a question of whether he'd show up. The other stuff will work itself out.
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'I want to be a part of something special,' Wilson said. 'I don't think a whole bunch of individuals make something special. I wanted to get in and know my teammates. I wanted to get in and know my coaches, learn the new material they're putting out and not be the guy that's behind. There's a way you go about business when you love what you do, and stuff like that is not really an option. I get the opportunity to come out here and work, make myself better at the game I love, let's take advantage of it.'
As for the contract: Wilson wants to be a Jet long-term. He said as much, the most declarative he's been about his future since the miserable 2024 season ended.
'I'm hopeful I'm a Jet for life and that we get this thing rolling, that all of our best days are ahead of us,' Wilson said. 'I'm going to do my part to make sure that it's undeniable when the time does come and those conversations are had, I'm going to try to do my part to make sure that it's undeniable.'
Wilson also said there have been 'a few' of those conversations between the Jets and his agent about a new deal already. Glenn, for his part, understands what he has in Wilson. When the coach was asked what he learned about his top receiver, he answered simply: 'Give him the ball as much as possible.'
• There could be a legitimate competition at center between Joe Tippmann and free-agent signee Josh Myers — something general manager Darren Mougey alluded to at the league meeting in March. 'Those guys are battling their asses off right now, just competing,' guard John Simpson said. 'They both are super intelligent and just fighting. They're warriors.'
• Defensive tackle Byron Cowart had an impressive day rushing the passer. I had him with one or two sacks in team drills. Other sacks came from cornerback Michael Carter II, linebacker Quincy Williams and McDonald. Defensive end Rashad Weaver and defensive back Isaiah Oliver sacked Tyrod Taylor in team drills too.
• In Taylor's two-minute drill, he threw a pass behind wide receiver Allen Lazard but Lazard was able to adjust and catch it while sliding on the ground. Taylor also completed a pass down the field to Tyler Johnson earlier in the day, though he also missed a couple of throws.
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• Two undrafted rookies got some solid pressure on quarterback Adrian Martinez: defensive tackle Fatorma Mulbah and linebacker Aaron Smith.
• In the kicking competition, Anders Carlson has the early edge over undrafted rookie Caden Davis. (Greg Zuerlein was released recently.) Carlson nailed a couple field goals from 50-plus and missed a shorter one wide left. Davis made his shorter ones and missed one from 50-plus. Both went 3 for 4 in bad weather conditions.
• Defensive end Jermaine Johnson (Achilles) worked off on a side field with trainers; he's not expected to practice before training camp. Wide receiver Malachi Corley also appeared to leave early with a trainer but it's unclear why.
(Photo of Garrett Wilson: Noah K. Murray / AP)