The New York Jets have made a final call at the quarterback position ahead of Week 3.
Head coach Aaron Glenn ruled out starter Justin Fields, who remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol on Wednesday, September 17. Backup Tyrod Taylor will get the start for the green and white on the road versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Glenn Talks About His New QB1 Tyrod Taylor
“I have competed against him [Tyrod Taylor] a number of times. There is an element within him that we also have with Justin that I like a lot. The fact that he has been in this league for a long time, there is no coverage, there is no pressure that he hasn’t seen. So that’s why I have confidence in him. He is a very studious person, a good athlete; again, he has been around this league for a long time. There is no better player that you would want as your backup quarterback than him at this point in time,” Glenn confidently told the media.
Taylor, 36, has never started a game for the Jets during his brief tenure. However, he has appeared in 95 games and has made 58 starts during his career.
Taylor Has Always Been a Popular Teammate Regardless of What NFL Team He Has Been On
The former Virginia Tech product entered the NFL as the No. 180 overall pick in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL draft.
Taylor is in the middle of season No. 15 in the league. The Jets are the seventh team that Taylor has suited up for at the NFL level.
“It’s the way that he carries himself, he is a true professional in every manner that you can think of. He is not one of these locker room lawyers; he always points the finger at himself. Again, I’ll go to a thing I like about quarterbacks: he is not a celebrity quarterback; he is just one of the guys. He presents himself in a way to where it’s not just the offense, it’s not just the O-Line that he has conversations with, it is everybody within the locker room. So it’s easy to gravitate toward a guy like that,” Glenn explained when asked why Taylor is so popular among his teammates wherever he goes.
There Might Be a Rust Factor With Taylor
During the offseason, Taylor underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, which knocked him out for the entire preseason. From late July through early September, Taylor missed all of that practice time.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini asked Coach Glenn how concerned he was with the lack of reps for Taylor on Monday, September 15.
“Not concerned at all. I mean, Tyrod has been in this league for a number of years, so I look at that just like Teddy Bridgewater. I mean, last year Teddy came back with us during the playoffs and he was able to come in and function for us when Jared Goff had went down,” Glenn explained. “I see Tyrod the same way. Listen, he has been in this league for a long time. It doesn’t take much for him to understand exactly what we are trying to do and what we are trying to get done. So I have no concerns of that whatsoever.”
Cimini brought it up again on Wednesday, asking about the lack of reps and if the decision to rule out Fields early in game week was a benefit to give Taylor the full reps.
“Yes, but he has over 14 years of reps. So he is not new to this,” Glenn said.
Jets Make Final Call on QB Justin Fields for Bucs Game