Justin Fields hasn't racked up the big W-L numbers yet, but he began to show what he possibly can do in his six starts for Pittsburgh last season, going 4-2 before giving way to Russell Wilson. And every season from 2021-24, Fields has shown improvement in his passing game, giving Jets fans great hope that he's the answer at QB for the coming season and beyond.
We referenced some Fields numbers in our "7 Things" piece on the new quarterback. But with his arms and, for this piece, primarily his legs, he's already produced some impressive numbers and records in his career. Here is Fields by the numbers.
1
Starting with a non-statistical category, 1 is the uniform number that Fields had always worn, from Harrison HS in Kennesaw, GA, through the U. of Georgia in 2017, Ohio State in '18-19 and the Bears from '20-23. But when he was traded to Pittsburgh a year ago, he found out the Steelers don't assign unform No. 1 to any player. (It was unclear why since it's not officially retired.) So Fields sight-adjusted to No. 2 for his one-year stay with the Steelers.
Now as a Jet, Will Fields and Sauce Gardner enter talks over No. 1? Will he negotiate with Tyrod Taylor for No. 2? How about 3? 3 is good. (It is, after all, 1 plus 2.) Or 7, for all those sevens he has put on various scoreboards. We'll know the number soon when the team returns to One Jets Drive for its first offseason program under HC Aaron Glenn.
3
Fields is the only QB in NFL history to have rushed for 3 regular-season touchdowns of 50-plus yards in his career. All came in a one-month span of the Bears' 2022 season — a 61-yard score against Miami, a 67-yard TD the next week vs. Detroit, and a 55-yarder vs. Green Bay three weeks after that. Colin Kaepernick also has three 50-plus TD runs but one came in a 49ers playoff game after the '12 season.
4.46
How fast is Fields? Depends on which stopwatch you prefer. Due to COVID, all 2021 draft prospects did their predraft testing and drills at their pro days or private workouts. Fields, at Ohio State's pro day, sped to an unofficial 40 time variously reported as 4.43, 4.44, 4.45 and 4.46 seconds. Let's use 4.46, which appears on NFLCombineResults.com. That's unofficially the fifth-best time by any QB since 1987, topped by the likes of Michael Vick (4.33 in 2001), Robert Griffin (4.33 in '12) and Anthony Richardson (4.43 in '23).
But since all of those leaders were timed at different Combines, the site also adjusts pro-day 40s to better compare with the rigorous Combine timing. Adjusted, Fields' 4.51 is tied for ninth among all QBs since '87. Still in fast company.
5
Since 1970, only two NFL players have passed for at least one TD and run for at least one score in 5 consecutive games. Arizona's Kyler Murray first did it in 2020. Fields duplicated it during his highly productive stretch of five midseason games in '22. Fields also is tied for the most consecutive games by a QB with a rushing TD at 6 games with a Chicago icon, Johnny Lujack, who also had a 6-game rushing-TD streak in 1950/
60
In an entry related to No. 3 above, Fields has ripped off three 60-yard runs in his career, again all in '22 — the 61-yard TD vs. Miami, the 67-yard score the next week against then-Lions coordinator Glenn's defense, and a 60-yard non-score at Detroit, again vs. Glenn's defense. Fields is one of only two QBs with three runs of 60-plus yards since 1960. The other: Carolina's Cam Newton from 2012-17. So Fields is the quickest QB to three 60s since '60.
178+
Many know that the QB with the most rushing yards in a regular-season game since 1960 is Fields with 178 yards on 15 carries, in the aforementioned 35-32 home loss to the Dolphins in 2022. Not surprisingly, also in that game, Fields set two rushing superlatives for QBs since 1994: 12 rushing first downs and 8 runs of 10-plus yards.
