Jets place QB Justin Fields on injured reserve, ending disappointing season

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Jets place QB Justin Fields on injured reserve, ending disappointing season

2025-12-24 07:26 Last Updated At：07:30

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Justin Fields' season is officially over. And perhaps, too, his brief tenure with the New York Jets.

Coach Aaron Glenn announced Tuesday that Fields was placed on season-ending injured reserve with a knee injury that sidelined him the past three games.

“It wasn’t getting as better as we would like it,” Glenn said. “So we want to make sure we get a focus on that to make sure we get him better.”

Fields, who signed a two-year, $40 million deal — with $30 million guaranteed — with New York in March, was the starter for most of this season until he was benched in favor of Tyrod Taylor last month. He popped up on the team's injury report on Dec. 3 with what Glenn said then was “soreness” in a knee.

It was uncertain if Fields, who was inactive for the Jets' past three games, will need surgery.

“I’m going to let the docs really hone in on that and if he does, this would be a great time to get it done so he can get it knocked out and get himself healthy," Glenn said. “But again, I don’t want to place that on him. I just know this, that we want to make sure that he gets this thing healthy and gets it ready.”

Undrafted rookie Brady Cook is set to make his third consecutive start Sunday against New England. Taylor, who missed one game with a groin injury before returning last week, will be the backup.

Fields, speaking to reporters last Friday for the first time since his injury in practice three weeks ago, said he recently had an MRI on his ailing knee and “they found something, so now we’re at this point.” He added that he had “a nick or a bruise” and said his injury is “more of a week-to-week thing.”

But Fields also said he “of course” would like to play again this season.

“It was definitely not what we planned it out to be,” Fields said last week of his season. “But, you know, it’s life. Nothing works out how you want it to, but everything happens for a reason. I’ll just keep getting better as a quarterback, just evolving my game and changing my game and just continue to improve.”

Fields went 2-7 as the Jets’ starter with seven touchdowns and only one interception for 1,259 yards — but had four games during which he threw for under 55 yards, including a season-low 27 in a loss to Buffalo in Week 2.

“Any player that we have high hopes for and the season don’t go the way we want it to go, we’re always disappointed in that,” Glenn said.

Fields’ future with the team is uncertain. He’s due $20 million next year, with $10 million guaranteed. If New York cuts Fields, it would have to absorb $22 million in dead salary cap charges.

“I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to eat for dinner tonight, so I can’t even worry about what’s going to happen until after the season,” Fields said last week. “We’ll just see and take it day by day.”

It seems certain the Jets will explore new options at quarterback, whether it's through the draft — New York could have a pick in the top three in April — or free agency, or both.

“We’ll see how that goes,” Glenn said with a chuckle when asked if expects Fields to be back next season. “We’re focused on New England right now.”

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FBI: Lyft driver terrorized by escaped Georgia inmates before she was rescued in Florida

ATLANTA (AP) — Three inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including a murder suspect, commandeered a terrified Lyft driver's car to reach south Florida before she was rescued and they were captured, according to details revealed in court records.

The driver told FBI agents that the men used a fake name to order the ride, put a rope around her neck from behind her, dragged her into the backseat and threatened to kill her, according to a court affidavit filed late Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press.

The inmates were able to “compromise” a portion of a cell inside the DeKalb County Jail to make their escape, said DeKalb County Chief Deputy Temetris Atkins. He didn't provide more specifics because jailers don't want other inmates to know the facility's weaknesses.

“We repaired the area that was compromised, and we’re looking at other areas that are similar to that to fortify them to make sure that they are not compromised in the same manner,” Atkins said at a Tuesday news conference.

DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox described the jail as an “aging facility that’s deteriorating right before our eyes.” The jail is in Decatur, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of downtown Atlanta.

The escape was discovered early Monday during a routine security check, authorities said. After jailers realized the three were gone, investigators listened to recordings of conversations they'd had on recorded phone lines. They learned that one of the inmates had contacted people on the outside who helped them evade capture after the escape, U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said.

The inmates were picked up by an unnamed man and taken to one of their girlfriends’ homes, Brown said. Then, a Lyft ride was ordered using a fake, female name.

Officers tracked the car as it traveled to south Florida with the aid of license plate readers, devices that can alert law enforcement to the locations of wanted vehicles. When they caught up with the car and tried to stop it, one of the inmates jumped out and ran but was arrested along with a second inmate, according to a court affidavit.

Investigators also learned that the men used the Lyft driver's credit card for a short-term rental of a home in Miramar, Florida, where officers apprehended the third inmate and rescued the driver, court records state.

The driver told investigators that she was held in the car for six to 10 hours as they tried to gain access to her phone and online banking records. After trying to escape once, she endured “increased threats of being shot, raped, and tortured,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.

“As you can imagine, the Lyft driver is very traumatized by this,” Brown said.

All three inmates were charged with kidnapping as well as the escape, according to criminal complaints.

A lawyer with the Federal Public Defender's Office in Fort Lauderdale appointed to represent one of the men, 24-year-old Stevenson Charles, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday evening, nor did a Miami attorney representing a second, Naod Yohannes, 25. There was no lawyer listed in court records for the third, Yusuf Minor, 31.

Charles was being held before the escape on charges including murder and armed robbery. The other two faced charges including armed robbery and arson.

The sheriff’s office had warned that the men might be armed and were considered dangerous after their escape.

Before they were captured, federal authorities had issued particularly strong warnings advising the citizens to be wary of Charles, who has had several run-ins with law officers in Georgia and Florida. He had been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of kidnapping and bank robbery, a federal agent wrote in a Monday affidavit regarding the recent jail escape.

After being sentenced, the agent wrote, Charles was turned over to DeKalb County authorities on Dec. 5 to face the murder charge, details of which were not immediately available.

In one of multiple cases involving Charles in South Florida, he is accused of meeting a man through the Grindr online dating application and then pulling a gun on him when they met in person at a Miami residence in 2022. Charles then drove the man to various Miami area banks, withdrawing money from the victim’s accounts, court records show.