NY Jets: Joe Douglas and others attend Justin Fields’ pro day

The NY Jets finished up their tour of the top quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft on Tuesday when they attended the pro day of Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.

After making appearances at the pro days of Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, and even Trevor Lawrence’s personal workout, general manager Joe Douglas arrived in Columbus flanked by assistant general manager Rex Hogan and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.

Nearly the same trio that appeared at Wilson’s pro day, although with Hogan replacing head coach Robert Saleh. Don’t read too much into that, however, as Saleh didn’t attend as he’s expecting the birth of his seventh child in the near future.

The Jets showed up in full force for Fields’ pro day, just as they did for Wilson.

The NY Jets were likely impressed by Justin Fields’ performance

While it’s never wise to put too much weight on a pro day performance, Fields had one of the better showings in recent memory. The former Heisman finalist dazzled scouts with highlight-reel throws and impressive consistency all day long.

His performance earned the praise of numerous NFL scouts and analysts from around the league.

Just had a scout text me from the Ohio State pro day.

“That was the best QB workout I’ve seen in a while”@justnfields

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) March 30, 2021

In the context of what pro days are/ what they aren’t, Justin Fields was ? today. Even more importantly, what I loved most was what his coaches said about Justin and where he is at in his development. With good #NFL staff, he is going to be a star. Super impressive young man.

— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) March 30, 2021

Again, it was just a pro day. And just as teams don’t exactly place significant importance on a player’s performance in a workout “against air,” so to speak, fans likely shouldn’t do so either.

But what might be telling is that the Jets were clearly interested in sending their top brass to Fields’ pro day, just as they did for Wilson. With Trey Lance, however, the Jets sent Douglas, Hogan, and pass-game specialist Greg Knapp.

No LaFleur. No Saleh.

Does that mean anything? No one really knows. But the Jets evidently wanted to get up close and personal with Fields, especially given the difficulties faced by QB-needy teams this draft process.

Pro days were really the only opportunity teams had to meet these prospects in person making them even more important this year. The Jets are doing their due diligence on the top quarterbacks in the class.

Wilson remains the odds-on favorite at the time of writing, but really all options are still on the table. That goes for Justin Fields, Trey Lance, and maybe even Mac Jones — although it’s hard to believe the fanbase would take too kindly to that.

Even the possibility of keeping Sam Darnold has been floated around.

The Jets are weighing their options. And their presence at Justin Fields’ pro day is further evidence of that.