Aaron Glenn’s revealing answer finally leaves door open for Jets QB change

The New York Jets have reached a breaking point at quarterback, and for the first time in a few weeks, Aaron Glenn finally sounded like a head coach who knows it.

Thursday night’s 27–14 loss to the Patriots wasn’t Justin Fields’ worst outing of the year, but that's not saying much. Fields finished 15-of-26 for 116 yards and a touchdown, added 67 yards and a rushing score, and still left the Jets’ passing game completely unplayable.

A critical fourth-quarter fumbled snap sealed the game and served as the latest example of a quarterback who simply cannot run a functional NFL offense right now.

The frustration has been simmering for weeks, but Glenn's comments on Friday felt a little different. Glenn didn’t dodge the quarterback questions. He didn’t get combative with reporters. He didn’t shut anything down. Instead, he genuinely entertained the possibility of a quarterback change.

Glenn told reporters that he would be "evaluating everything" when asked about Fields and the quarterback situation. And with that one line, the door to a quarterback change swung wide open.

Aaron Glenn seems to be considering benching Justin Fields

Fields has statistically been the least efficient starting quarterback in the NFL. He owns the league’s worst EPA/play outside of garbage time (-0.210) and has thrown for under 60 yards in four of his nine starts. The Jets have had six first halves with fewer than 100 total yards, twice as many as any other team.

Arguably the most damning number is that Fields actually has the seventh-highest "Wide Open Rate" in the NFL. Jets receivers are getting open — consistently. The offensive staff is doing its job. Fields simply isn’t.

Tanner Engstrand’s work makes this even clearer. The Jets rushed for 140 yards and averaged 5.0 yards per carry against the best run defense in football on Thursday night. Teams just don’t respect the Jets’ passing game at all.

Breece Hall has faced a stacked box on 49.3% of his carries this season, one of the highest rates in the NFL. And yet Hall is still averaging 4.1 yards per carry against stacked fronts, thanks in large part to an offensive line that ranks top five in yards before contact (2.5) on those plays.

The running game shouldn't be working. The receivers aren’t good enough. The passing game is nonexistent. And somehow, Engstrand still schemes open windows every week. Fields just can’t hit them.

Glenn was surprisingly honest on Friday, acknowledging this very issue. “We have to do a better job in the passing game,” Glenn said. “There were some open guys that we missed.”

That’s as close as Glenn has come to stating the obvious without saying it. It's time for a quarterback change.

Tyrod Taylor is the next man up if the Jets do make a move. He was already expected to start earlier this year before a knee injury sidelined him ahead of the team's Week 8 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since that game, Fields has reverted right back to the version of himself that nearly played himself out of a job earlier in the year.

Taylor won’t be a savior, but he should offer basic NFL functionality, which is something the Jets simply haven’t had for most of the season.

Whether Glenn follows through on his words remains to be seen. But after a season’s worth of dodging, dismissing, and stonewalling, the Jets’ head coach finally left the door open.

And at this point, it’s the only door left.