Justin Fields Not Making Kirk Cousins Error

The Kirk Cousins tenure with the Atlanta Falcons was bad from the start.

Even putting aside the tampering issue, Cousins and the Falcons enjoyed only six and a half happy weeks together before the organization drafted signal-caller Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 overall. The move frustrated Cousins according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Justin Fields made it clear Wednesday he won't have a similar reaction as Cousins if the New York Jets draft a quarterback at No. 7 overall this year.

"I don't really like to answer rhetorical questions, but like I said, I'm willing to teach. However, I'm not really interested in, you know, rhetorical questions," Fields said to a question about the Jets potentially drafting a first-round quarterback.

"I think that's above my pay grade, so I'm gonna roll with whatever they choose."

Fields' answer in his Jets introductory press conference earned him comparisons to Cousins and the Falcons. NFL.com's Kevin Patra made his lead in the story covering Fields' answer that the quarterback "isn't worried about Gang Green pulling an Atlanta Falcons and immediately drafting his replacement."

The easy column for a Falcons audience would be to write Fields is showing a lot more maturity than Cousins. The truth, though, is a lot more complicated.

Yes, Fields showed strong maturity for his age in his answers Wednesday. The 26-year-old appeared to do a lot of growing during his one year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A year ago, Go Long's Tyler Dunne reported Fields didn't want to receive mentorship from Andy Dalton and Nick Foles while with the Chicago Bears early in his career.

But by all accounts, Fields was a terrific teammate to Russell Wilson despite an arguably unjustified benching in Pittsburgh. Fields remained a great teammate all the way through free agency and even after.

Also on Wednesday, Fields continued to support Mike Tomlin's decision to bench him because it helped the team.

Cousins hasn't been the same "good soldier" this offseason for the Falcons. So, maybe the 36-year-old could learn a thing or two from the young signal-caller. Or perhaps Fields learned from Cousins' outburst post-draft last year.

Having said that, the Jets-Fields situation is not the same as the Falcons-Cousins from last year. It's not quite apples versus oranges; but it's Granny Smith apples versus Fuji apples.

If the Jets draft a quarterback at No. 7 this year, that will be just one pick ahead of where Penix landed with the Falcons last year. But other than that and the Cousins and Fields signings in free agency, that's where the similarities end.

The Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal. Of that amount, $90 million was guaranteed at the signing.

Fields received $40 million on a two-year deal from the Jets. In the contract, $30 million is guaranteed.

With a lot less committed to Fields, the Jets have given themselves the flexibility to also draft a quarterback at No. 7 overall. NFL teams have been doing this since practically the creation of the salary cap.

The Jets signing Fields is much closer to the Minnesota Vikings inking Sam Darnold to a one-year, $10 million deal last year than Cousins and the Falcons. Fields and Darnold are both former first-round picks who haven't proven yet they can be franchise quarterbacks.

Guess what -- after signing Darnold, the Vikings then drafted J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 overall.

Fields should absolutely be alright with the Jets selecting a quarterback at No. 7. It's understandable, though, that Cousins was upset with the Penix pick last year.

The Falcons brought Cousins to Atlanta to help the team return to the playoffs and compete for a championship. Drafting Cousins' replacement wasn't going to help him reach those goals.

The mistake Cousins and the people close to him made was sharing his initial reaction to the Penix selection.

It will be interesting to see if Fields changes his tune should the Jets draft a quarterback in the top 10. But it doesn't seem as though Fields will make any of his potential grievances so public.