Jets Urged To 'Tap Into' One Key Justin Fields Trait

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Adam Schultz | Last updated Jun 3, 2025 8:32 AM ET

The New York Jets' offense under new coordinator Tanner Engstrand will look vastly altered from last season.

New voices, a new scheme, and most importantly, a new quarterback make for a different-looking unit.

Justin Fields has been handed the starting role and comes to the Big Apple looking to ignite and save his NFL career after four seasons of so-so production.

One weapon Fields possesses is his ability as a runner, with rushing totals of 1,143 yards in 2022 and 657 in 2023. Last season, before he was benched for Russell Wilson, he had five rushing touchdowns and 289 yards in his six starts.

For Pro Football Focus, Engstrand utilizing Fields' running ability has to be done regularly.

"New York finally moved on from the failed Aaron Rodgers experiment and replaced him with Justin Fields on a two-year, $40 million contract," Pro Football Focus writes. "Fields has never been a top-20 quarterback in PFF overall grade in any of his four seasons, but he’s still only 26 years old and will be reuniting with Garrett Wilson, whom he threw passes to at Ohio State. With an underwhelming receiving corps outside of Wilson, the Jets would be wise to tap into Fields’ rushing ability as much as possible."

With a solid group of backs behind him in Breece Hall and Braelon Allen, Fields won't have to shoulder all of the rushing duties, and Garrett Wilson, Josh Reynolds, Allen Lazard, and rookie Mason Taylor are options in the passing game.

But for most, the Jets' offense should be a run-first unit, and Fields will/should play a big role in that.

We know how devastating he can be as a runner, and even NFL Network's Brian Baldinger stated how dangerous Fields looked running the football at OTAs.

There are a lot of ways for Engstrand to go with how he should run his offense, and Fields, as a genuine runner, has to be one of them.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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