2025 New York Jets Fantasy Preview: Justin Fields looks to thrive entering his best situation yet

The Jets will enter 2025 once again with what seems like always a new quarterback, a new coach, and new hope. There's a lot of questions that will be answered in short order once things get rolling. Is it Justin Fields' last chance to prove he can be a franchise quarterback? What's going on with Breece Hall (fantasy managers what to know)? The Jets are perennially repeat offenders of this kind of discourse and for good reason.

Coming off of another losing season, first-time head coach Aaron Glenn and company look to change the tide for the team he once played for. If his knowledge and intensity sticks with the players and staff, we could be looking at new life in Gotham.

2024 New York Jets Stats (Rank)

Points per game: 19.9 (25th)

Total yards per game: 310.3 (24th)

Plays per game: 59.4 (30th)

Dropbacks per game: 41.9 (10th)

Dropback EPA per play: 0.05 (18th)

Rush attempts per game: 21.4 (32nd)

Rush EPA per play: -0.11 (20th)

Can Aaron Glenn turn his old team around?

After five games into his fourth season as the Jets' head coach, Robert Saleh was relieved of his duties as the team looked for a culture change. Look no further as they brought in Aaron Glenn formerly the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Glenn is a respected name and coach in the NFL and has been mentioned as a potential head coaching candidate for the past couple of seasons now. The games will have to be played at some point, but Glenn should be admired for how he's approached his job thus far choosing to operate as low-key as possible in an internet-heavy era. You won't find many catchy quotes or engaging statements on social media out of Coach Glenn, my man means business.

While Glenn is known as defensive coach", he let it be known early that he would not call the defensive plays. That will be Steve Wilks. So, clearly he's not calling the offensive players either, former Lions' passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand will hold down that fort as the Jets OC. Engstrand had been with the Lions since 2020 in different roles on the offensive staff. Expect the Jets to attack opposing defenses in a similar way, but with a quarterback who has 4.4 speed in Justin Fields. Look for the Jets to apply a physical and aggressive style offense that looks to get its best playmakers in space.

Passing Game

QB: Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor

WR: Garrett Wilson, Tyler Johnson

WR: Josh Reynolds, Arian Smith

WR: Allen Lazard, Malachi Corley

TE: Mason Taylor, Jeremy Ruckert

The good news last season for the Jets was that they at least, for once and a while had competent quarterback play. Statistically, Aaron Rodgers was solid throwing for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The problem was, that didn't often lead to wins (5-12 record) and it didn't lead to legit fantasy production outside of Davante Adams. In comes Justin Fields who is walking into the best situation of his career in my opinion. Let me explain. There's momentum here in the fact that last season Fields had a winning record as a starter (4-2) and now has a head coach in Aaron Glenn who fully believes in him. That is a big deal. From a fantasy perspective, Fields was QB6 on a points per game basis last season through the first six weeks of the season in 2024, slightly above Jalen Hurts. The 2022 and 2023 seasons saw Fields finish as QB5 and QB8 respectively through 17 weeks, which is when most fantasy leagues end. Fields has the scheme, talent around him, and own skillset to return to being top tier fantasy quarterback (I think it'll lead to more wins as well).

The group of pass catchers Fields will have isn't loaded by any means, but it's on par with what he's worked with in the past. Garrett Wilson being the lone star of the group makes the unit top heavy and he could be in line to set a career high in targets. Last season Wilson saw double-digit targets in six games, don't be surprised to see that number double coming off a year in which he was WR18. The biggest question will be, who else steps up? We know what veterans like Josh Reynolds and Allen Lazard can do, and neither is likely to break out at this point in their careers. Younger receivers like Malachi Corley and Arian Smith will have a chance to earn snaps, but with the Jets looking to attack via the run, there likely won't be room for weekly fantasy starters outside of Wilson.

The wildcard will be at the tight end position and that's where rookie Mason Taylor comes in. Taylor is a pass-catching tight end with good run-after-the-catch skills who has the ability to run good routes on all parts of the field. While he's not a punishing blocker, he does it well enough to where he can stay on the field. He caught 55 passes in 12 games during his final season at LSU and a weapon like that for Fields will be vital, especially because the Jets' other tight end, Jeremy Ruckert, has yet to score a touchdown in his career. Taylor also figures to beat out Stone Smartt. Cole Kmet was TE8 in fantasy during the 2023 season in Chicago with Fields at quarterback, so there's no reason why Taylor can't be in that range as a rookie.

Running Game

RB: Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Donovan Edwards/Kene Nwangwu

OL (L-R): Olu Fashanu, John Simpson, Joe Tippmann, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Armand Membou

I would say that we have three running backs on this team that we're going to utilize as much as possible"

-Aaron Glenn, April, 2025

Interpret that however you want, but one thing is for certain, you can expect at least some change in the Jets' backfield this season. Breece Hall is coming off a season where he finished as fantasy RB18, which isn't bad, but he didn't pay off where you took him in drafts. Now that he's going to be conceding touches to Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis, where will he fall now? And don't forget, you have a quarterback who has an 1,100-yard rushing season under his belt. Glenn and Engstrand feel like they can all be successful. Perhaps not to the tune of their former backs in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery (who finished as RB2 and RB16 respectively), but with the way the offense will be run, we should get plenty of productive weeks.

Furthermore, expect Hall to lead the charge as far as receptions to running backs goes as he's caught 133 passes over his last two seasons. Allen figures to see a lot of the goal line and short-yardage touches and Davis is just too good of a back to let waste away on the sidelines. Hall still has RB1 upside in fantasy, he'll just have to rely on the efficiency of his first few seasons. Both he and Allen figure to be solid FLEX options.

The offensive line should be healthy, new, and improved after selecting tackle Armand Membou seventh overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Their 2024 first-round pick Olu Fashanu enters the season holding it down at the left tackle spot after starting games there to end last season. The interior line will be led by the unit's longest tenured member in Alijah Vera-Tucker who has been proven to be versatile in the past. If this young group can stay healthy and stack starts together, you will be looking at a top five rushing offense in the NFL.

2025 New York Jets Win Total (O/U 5.5)

I can't say that I'm too shocked the Jets' number is this low when they face five playoff teams from last season, along with teams like the Cowboys, Bengals, and Dolphins (twice) who all have true playoff aspirations. I'm still going over, in fact I'd go over 7.5 wins at +200. As of the time I'm writing this article, the option to go over 8.5 isn't even available. The Jets have had a top five defense each of the last three seasons and many of those key players (Quinnen Williams, Quincy Williams, Sauce Gardner, Jamien Sherwood, Michael Carter, and Jermaine Johnson) still remain on the roster. Offensively, this unit has the talent at the skill positions and offensive line to be the best the Jets have had in over a decade. They could surprise us this season.