Justin Fields is different.
There's a lot more to why the New York Jets chose to let Fields be their starting quarterback this season instead of Aaron Rodgers. But at the core, that's the reason.
The Jets could've tried to keep Rodgers. But head coach Aaron Glenn, new to town, let Rodgers walk.
Rodgers is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Fields' former team, which let Fields walk. And the pair will face off in Week 1.
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Why Jets chose Justin Fields over Aaron Rodgers
The word it comes down to, based on a new feature story by ESPN's Rich Cimini, is "celebrity."
"Fields doesn't have a weekly platform on a popular TV show," Cimini wrote. "He doesn't electrify news conferences with glib responses and razor-edged opinions. He's not a headline maker. He's a grinder, according to teammates and coaches. As Glenn said, 'He's not trying to be a celebrity quarterback' -- something Glenn's mentor, Bill Parcells, said many years ago about what he doesn't want his quarterbacks to be."
Fields has what Glenn has called his "move in silence" mantra, according to Cimini.
"Previously, it felt like 52 players and Rodgers," Cimini writes. "This isn't meant to be a shot at Rodgers, who current and former Jets say was generally well-liked in the locker room, but there's no denying that he altered the team dynamic because of his stature and desire to be in the spotlight."
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The Jets wanted a quarterback who fit into the team fabric rather than trying to be his own fabric.
Rodgers and the Jets went 5-12 last year, and he's 41 now. It would've made a decent amount of sense to move on anyway.
Now they've got a QB with immense athletic upside in the 26-year old Fields, who went 4-2 as a starter with the Steelers last season before being benched for the returned-from-injury Russell Wilson.
Fields gets his chance now, at the expense of Rodgers, who pretty much only had the Steelers to choose in free agency. And Week 1 will be the first test of how those moves compare.
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