Giants' Russell Wilson, Jets' Justin Fields share mission to fix New York football
Justin Fields of the Jets, left, and Russell Wilson of the Giants.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — They barely had a moment to speak with one another, were hardly ever on the same field at Tuesday’s joint practice. There were no reps where they faced each other, and they couldn’t even watch each other perform.
As the Giants and Jets took to the turf for the first of two workouts between the teams this week, the gravity between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields is undeniable. They already were linked as teammates a year ago with the Steelers, two quarterbacks vying for one job that they wound up splitting before they both were bounced from Pittsburgh. Now they are here in the big city, separately but together, sharing a market and a stadium but not a locker room and on the same mission.
They are trying to fix New York football.
“It’s kind of crazy how it worked out that we are both in the same city,” Fields said on Tuesday.
Said Wilson: “We talked about it when we both decided to come to New York . . . We’re grateful to be able to play this game that we love.”
But as much as their primary job descriptions are to overcome the ills that haunted their two new franchises, the ones that combined for a hideous eight wins last season and made the late fall and winter of 2024 an interminable slog around these parts, they also have a secondary pursuit here.
They are trying to fix themselves, too. Salvage their own sinking legacies. And they can’t accomplish the first of those tasks without addressing the latter.
No wonder their bond remains so strong.
“He’s a great friend, a great teammate,” Wilson said. “I will always have his back, and vice versa.”
Fields arrived on this Jets’ roster as a free agent this offseason after flaming out as a first-round pick in Chicago (the Bears, by the way, traded spots with the Giants to select him in 2020) then starting last year for the Steelers before getting benched for Wilson. The Jets dumped Aaron Rodgers and handed the starting job to Fields.
Wilson was a Super Bowl-winning superstar in Seattle but since then he cratered out in Denver, performed well enough to get the Steelers to the playoffs last year (thanks in no small part to the hot start Fields gave the team), and arrived in East Rutherford only after the Giants couldn’t land Matthew Stafford or Rodgers. Shortly after he arrived the Giants invested in their quarterback of the future, drafting Jaxson Dart, leaving Wilson little to no wiggle room for slow starts or mediocre results.
The quarterbacks knew each other prior to Pittsburgh. Wilson had spoken with Fields when he was still playing at Ohio State.
“He’s been an awesome mentor and an awesome person,” Fields said.
Then they wound up together on the Steelers, navigating an odd working dynamic that had them fighting each other for snaps but also working together to help the team.
“Of course I learned a lot from him,” Fields said. “He’s been in the league for a long time… Just how he goes about his everyday business. You can see how he operates. Just trying to take bits and pieces of what he does and incorporate that into my game.”
Fields said Wilson remains a confidante even though they are on different teams.
“I can reach out to him and he’ll give me advice,” he said.
They don’t get to spend much actual time together despite their proximity. That goes for this week while both are busy running their offenses and getting ready for the regular season, but also on other occasions as well. There haven’t been any dinners or family gatherings since they both arrived.
“We talked about it but it hasn’t happened yet,” Fields said. “I don’t know if it will happen now that the season has come around. But we’ll definitely get some time in there for sure.”
Even if they don’t, though, they’ll always share the commonality of their 2024 season together. And now their 2025 seasons that will start out parallel to each other.
“The quarterback club, I guess you could call it, is a special one, and when you get to share the room with guys and teach guys and learn and continue to develop a relationship, I think that’s special,” Wilson said. “I really admire his work ethic and his friendship, who we are as teammates.
“We’ll forever be connected.”
First as Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks. Now as New York’s quarterbacks.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
