Justin Fields may have lost 28 games as Chicago's starter in his first three seasons of NFL ball, and he may have lost the starting job to old hand Russell Wilson after six games in Pittsburgh last year. But one thing he's never lost on his twisty road from Ohio State to the Jets is his quiet confidence.
"My confidence never left me," he said on a conference call with Jets beat reporters Wednesday, after his third session with his new teammates at the opening of their strength and conditioning program. "I feel like when your confidence leaves you, then you have zero chance. ... You can never lose your confidence, never lose your will to work and get things done. So no matter how many losses and stuff like that, I'm never going to lose my confidence in life or in this game."
The confidence of the Green & White and their fans could have been running on empty after the two difficult seasons that resulted in the departures of QB Aaron Rodgers and a number of others during and after last year's 5-12 campaign.
But there is an intrigue among fans, reporters and team members about the skillset and mindset that Fields brings to the new equation. And his businesslike, even-keeled speaking approach dovetails well with new head coach Aaron Glenn's offseason mantra of "We have a lot of time for scheme, a lot of time to talk about Super Bowl and playoffs, but right now, building a culture and building an environment in that building is the most important thing for me."
"Of course I've been on good teams and I've been on bad teams," Fields said, adding of his new head coach that he used to match wits with when the Bears offense took on the Lions defense from 2021-23, "AG has been in the same situation, where Detroit didn't start off hot. I think he knows how to take a bad situation and turn it into a good one. I've been on teams that have been 3-14 and then last year with Pittsburgh, we had a pretty good team and made it to the playoffs.
"I've seen both sides of it and I can tell the difference between just the characteristics of a team that's not doing so well and the characteristics of a good team. We're really just trying to implement that into our team and get all the good characteristics, just find the recipe of what makes us a playoff team."
The Jets already have the elements to make their locker room a Justin Fields hometown team. Two fellow Ohio State offensive mates, WR Garrett Wilson and TE Jeremy Ruckert, played a few seasons with Fields at OSU, and C Josh Myers, who arrived in Columbus, OH, the year Fields left for the Bears, was a four-year starter for the Buckeyes.
"It's awesome, of course," he said of the reunion with Wilson in particular. "When I saw him, it was really just like the old days. I don't think our relationship skipped a beat. So I'm definitely excited to play with him and guys like Ruck and Josh. I'm excited for that and for things we can do to help each other get better, just get back on the same page as we were in college."
Behind Fields' measured words are perhaps a building tension, that he can get up to speed in Glenn's and coordinator Tanner Engstrand's offense quickly and explode out of the gate and throughout the season ahead. He already is one of the NFL's great running quarterbacks of the moment, and his passing game has slowly but steadily improved from his time as the Bears' 11th overall draft pick in 2021 through last season's backup status over the Steelers' final dozen games.
"It's definitely something that I want to prove to myself," he said of showing how high he can fly in his fifth NFL season with his third team. "I think my expectations for myself are higher than anybody else's, to be honest with you, so it's something to prove to myself. And I think I've been improving each year I've been in the league, so I look to do the same thing this year."
And what might some of those expectations be? Fields declined to go into specifics for now.
"I like to keep them to myself," he said. "But just in terms of my play, I know what I can do on the field. I've been playing this game for a long time. I know what I'm capable of.
"I'm just ready to get to work and get things going."
