Twenty years. That’s the length of Aaron Rodgers’ ongoing NFL career. And for the first time in that span, he is a free agent. Sounds a little odd, right? Well, an NFL analyst wonders if the New York Jets made a mistake by parting ways with the legendary quarterback and signing Justin Fields instead.
Analyst Claims Justin Fields Won’t Be Able To Match 41-Year-Old Aaron Rodgers
NFL analyst Craig Carton expressed his feelings on the Jets quarterback situation during the “Breakfast Ball” show on Wednesday. When asked if the Jets improved their QB position, Carton didn’t mince words.
“The answer is unequivocally no. Fields is not an NFL quarterback,” he said. “He is never gonna be an NFL quarterback. And for some reason, collectively, the sports media, have misjudged what Rodgers did last year. Because the Jets as a team were so bad.”
.@craigcartonlive says "the answer is unequivocally NO" on whether the Jets improved with replacing Aaron Rodgers with Justin Fields:
"Justin Fields is not an NFL quarterback. For some reason, collectively we've misjudged what Aaron Rodgers did last year." pic.twitter.com/G1RVoprlNH
— Breakfast Ball (@BrkfstBallOnFS1) March 11, 2025
Notably, on Wednesday, the Jets officially released Rodgers, taking on $49 million in dead cap space. To compensate for a lack of a quarterback, they signed Fields on a two-year, $40 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. But according to Carton, Rodgers didn’t deserve this.
“[They] didn’t win as many games as they did the year before with a plethora of quarterbacks, none of them were really any good led by Zach Wilson. Rodgers last year threw essentially 3900 yards, 3,897, 28 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. That’s what he did last year on a bad team with a losing record,” he added.
The Jets finished with a 5-12 record and finished third in the AFC East. Furthermore, they didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Despite that, Rodgers’ performances were top-notch. Carton stated that he had some memorable statistics.
“Fields, in a short career obviously, has never thrown for more than 2,600 yards. But because the Jets’ season collectively was so bad and didn’t come close to living up to the expectations, we have reinvented what Rodgers did. Now, he was terrible with the ball in his hand in the fourth quarter in one-score games. I think he was 0-5 in situations like that,” Carton said about Rodgers.
Fields’ best performance came with the Chicago Bears during the 2023 season when he threw for 2,562 yards. Thus, he looks to have fallen short of an experienced Rodgers. However, Carton also accepted that Rodgers performed poorly in close games.
“But statistically, the guy was good. He literally put up the same exact numbers as the MVP, Josh Allen. Obviously, the outcome was a lot different, so I am not trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison: him against a much younger Josh Allen. But the notion that Justin Fields is a better quarterback or that we’ve improved the quarterback situation for the Jets is just not true,” Carton concluded.
Meanwhile, he also compared Rodgers to the 2024 MVP Allen, who had 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns, and six interceptions. It remains to be seen if Fields will match Rodgers’ talent and if the Jets’ decision to sign Fields will age well this season.