Jets Find Their QB in Justin Fields — Fantasy Fallout

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After a year in Pittsburgh, former first-round QB Justin Fields agreed to sign with the New York Jets Monday on a reported two-year deal. Fields should step in right away for a Jets team that is saying goodbye to Aaron Rodgers in free agency.

The ultimate better-for-fantasy-than-reality quarterback appears to be back in play, as the contract suggests he’ll be the starter. Fields’ ability as a runner will have him at least in the front end of the QB2 conversation, with a very real shot at cracking top-12 territory. In six games as the starter with the Steelers last season, he had three top-12 weekly finishes, including being the top fantasy scorer among quarterbacks in Week 4. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Fields was QB6 over that first month and a half of the season.

Listen: Jeff Ratcliffe Reacts to the Move

Of course, he will be reunited with his former college teammate Garrett Wilson. With Davante Adams out of the mix, Wilson is the unquestioned top target. However, it’s fair to wonder how much the Jets are going to throw the ball with Fields under center. Arthur Smith and the Steelers chose to cover Fields up with an average of just 26.8 passing attempts per game.

A similar average over 17 games would put us at just 456 attempts. If we’re in that range, even a massive target share of 30% would still only put Wilson between 135-140 targets. Sure, we can certainly see big plays out of Wilson, but it isn’t optimal to count on them happening consistently. Unfortunately, the initial outlook for Wilson isn’t ideal with Fields under center. Wilson will still be in the mid-range WR2 conversation, but he’ll also come with more week-over-week volatility.