FLORHAM PARK, N.J. \u2014 New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields says he’s dealing with \u201ca nick or a bruise\u201d in his injured knee, but still hopes to return before the end of the season.<\/p>\n
Fields, speaking to reporters for the first time since\u00a0his injury in practice two weeks ago, said Friday he recently had an MRI on his ailing knee and \u201cthey found something, so now we’re at this point.\u201d He said his injury is \u201cmore of a week-to-week thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fields, in his first season with the Jets, was\u00a0benched last month\u00a0in favour of Tyrod Taylor after he struggled mightily as the starter. He was serving as Taylor’s backup when he injured the knee at practice on Dec. 3.<\/p>\n
Both were limited at practice Thursday, and Fields was again limited Friday, while Taylor was a full participant and told reporters he feels good and is ready to play. Fields, meanwhile, expressed doubts he’ll suit up against the Saints.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I’m needed,\u201d Fields said before adding: \u201cYeah, I don’t think I’ll be ready on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when asked if he’d like to play again before the end of the season, Fields said simply: \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fields was asked if that’s also a consideration for him with just two games left.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s almost, you think of it,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI don’t know to what degree Garrett’s knee was, so I can’t really compare it to mine. But I’m going to try to get it feeling better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jets also signed Hendon Hooker, a third-round pick of Detroit in 2023 who has familiarity with current New York offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, to the practice squad this week.<\/p>\n
Fields’ future with the Jets is uncertain after he signed a two-year, $40 million contract, with $30 million guaranteed, in the offseason. He’s due $20 million next year, with $10 million guaranteed. If New York cuts Fields, it would have to absorb $22 million in dead salary cap charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to eat for dinner tonight, so I can\u2019t even worry about what\u2019s going to happen until after the season,” Fields said. “We\u2019ll just see and take it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fields went 2-7 as the Jets’ starter with seven touchdowns and only one interception for 1,259 yards \u2014 but had four games during which he threw for under 55 yards, including a season-low 27 in a loss to Buffalo in Week 2. New York’s offence struggled to move the ball consistently with Fields under centre and he was benched at halftime of the Jets’ 13-6 loss to Carolina on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
He started and played the next three games \u2014 including New York’s first two wins of the season \u2014 before Glenn decided to turn things over to Taylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely not what we planned it out to be,\u201d Fields said of his season. \u201cBut, you know, it’s life. Nothing works out how you want it to, but everything happens for a reason. I’ll just keep getting better as a quarterback, just evolving my game and changing my game and just continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rookie tight end Mason Taylor was ruled out for the game against the Saints with a neck injury, but Glenn said the Jets are hoping he returns next week. The second-round pick leads the team with 44 receptions and is second with 369 yards receiving.<\/p>\n
Safety Tony Adams (groin), linebacker Kiko Mauigoa (neck) and defensive lineman Eric Watts (concussion) were all previously ruled out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLORHAM PARK, N.J. \u2014 New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields says he’s dealing with \u201ca nick or a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-356443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}