The Jets fans in attendance at Florham Park on Saturday morning witnessed Justin Fields, who had dislocated a toe on his right foot on Thursday, participate in practice on a limited basis.
Fields first threw passes during individual and position drills. He later took part in 7-on-7 drills, during which he threw a perfect pass to wide receiver Tyler Johnson, eliciting cheers from the fans in attendance.
“Just trying to ease him in,” head coach Aaron Glenn said about Fields’ participating in drills. “We said it before, it’s going to be a collaborative process between him, Zuff [athletic trainer Dave Zuffelato], myself to make sure that he’s ready, ready when he gets involved in team drills and things like that.
“I thought he did a good job in the 7-on-7, and the thing is he has a ways to go until we get him out there, and we’re going to make sure we keep the process going, the protocol going to make sure he’s ready.”
Fields didn’t take part in 11-on-11 team drills, but he could fully return next week. The Jets have an off-day on Sunday before returning to the practice field on Monday.
Fields dislocated his toe early during practice on Thursday. After throwing an incompletion to Jeremy Ruckert, Fields sat on the field for a few minutes before he limped to the side to be evaluated by trainers. He was later carted from the field where he was further evaluated inside the facility.
Later that afternoon, the Jets announced that Fields had suffered a dislocated toe and would be day-to-day. Fields returned to the field for Friday’s practice but observed from the sideline as Tyrod Taylor led the first-team offense during both 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.
During 7-on-7 drills, quarterbacks aren’t evading pass rushers like they would be during 11-on-11 drills. Fields also didn’t have to worry about his foot being stepped on during 7-on-7 drills because offensive linemen aren’t on the field.
Fields completed 8 of his 9 passes during the drill and was sharp during the session. Taylor ran the first-team offense during 11-on-11 drills and completed 6 of 10 passes, including a beautiful pass to Josh Reynolds on the sideline with Sauce Gardner in coverage.
It is unknown when he will practice on a full-time basis again, but Glenn doesn’t seem to be worried about Fields being behind because of his toe injury.
“He’s missed one day,” Glenn said. “He’s going to be just fine. He missed one day, he’s been in meetings, so he’ll be just fine.”
PLAYERS LOVE THE NEW ‘TACKLING’ DRILL
Just because Jets players haven’t been in pads yet doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some level of physicality on the field during the first four days of camp.
Glenn and the Jets coaching staff had players participating in a variation of one-on-one tackling drills without actually tackling the ball carrier. The offensive player’s job is to see if they can make defenders miss in open space. However, it is the defender’s job to see if they can wrap the ball carrier up or put their hands on them before they can get away.
The drill is similar to what is known as an Oklahoma drill, which is designed to test players’ toughness and tackling ability in a one-on-one pressure situation. Glenn’s former boss, Dan Campbell, had used the drill with the Lions for the previous four seasons. Campbell also conducted a similar drill when he became the Dolphins’ interim coach in 2015, after Joe Philbin was fired four games into that season.
“It’s very fun,” Jets running back Breece Hall said. “It’s advantages and disadvantages for offense and defense because the defense has to try and stay lateral the whole time, and for us, we don’t have a lot of space to maneuver, but that’s how it is in the game.
“Right now, we don’t have pads on, so they can just tag us or push us. But once we get the pads on, all you got to do is make them miss a little bit or a stiff arm. For me, I’m always going up against Quincy [Williams], [Andre] Cisco and Jamien Sherwood, so the coaches want the best of the best, so that’s how it’s going to be every day.”
In his first year as Jets coach, Glenn aims to instill a physical style, beginning in training camp. The expectation is that the Jets will engage in more live tackling than in previous training camp practices once the pads are put on.
The Jets will also likely be a team that relies more on running the football than during the previous two seasons with Aaron Rodgers under center. So it makes sense why Glenn wants them to be more of a physical team.
The Jets’ offensive strengths revolve around the rushing attack with Fields’ ability to run the ball, and they have dedicated resources to improving the offensive line after selecting Joe Tippmann, Olu Fashanu and Armand Membou in each of the last three drafts.
“I think all four days have been competitive, and that’s what we plan on doing, like every day,” Glenn said. “The nature of what we need to be is a highly competitive team.
“I will tell you this, we have a locker room full of men that really want that, and it’s good to see. You see how guys, they jump up. We have some guys that we want to see go against each other, and other guys jump up because they want to be a part of it. So, it’s always good to see that. The thing is, and I said this yesterday, I don’t have to tell guys to giddy up and go. Guys are just going because they want to be a part of it.”
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