The New York Jets sent Aaron Rodgers packing this summer in favor of former Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields. It brings a freshness to the offense under Aaron Glenn and OC Tanner Engstrand. It also means the Jets will dramatically shift the dynamics within the offense.
Garrett Wilson will undoubtedly remain the top dog in the wide receiver room, but the distribution of targets is bound to change under Fields. He's a more reserved passer and this is a whole new scheme, no doubt modeled on the unpredictable playcalling of Engstand's former boss in Detroit, Ben Johnson.
If early training camp results are any indication, one Jets veteran appears to be losing ground in the Jets' WR pecking order. It just so happens to be one of Rodgers' favorite former targets — a longtime Green Bay Packers wideout turned Jets teammate, Allen Lazard.
Justin Fields looked awesome in these drills. He went 6 for 6.
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) July 26, 2025
Completions to Garrett Wilson (twice), Tyler Johnson, Xavier Gipson, Brandon Smith and Arian Smith. https://t.co/PmxH1JWMtW
Justin Fields is not prioritizing Allen Lazard at Jets training camp
Aside from the obvious positive of Justin Fields looking "awesome," per The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt, Jets fans can't help but notice the name absent from the list of completions from his recent 6-on-6 drills. He found Wilson twice, duh. Tyler Wilson, Xavier Gipson, Brandon Smith and Arian Smith all nabbed a pass. But not Lazard.
Lazard, 29, has spent two seasons in New York. He was lightly involved in 2023, when Zach Wilson was throwing the football. A towering 6-foot-5 wideout, he tallied only 23 catches for 311 yards and only one touchdown in 14 appearances (12 starts). Lazard's production swung back in the right direction once Rodgers took over. In 12 games (10 starts), he rung up 37 catches for 530 yards and six touchdowns, tied for the second-most of his career.
Rodgers loved Lazard. It's the only reason New York went out and got him in the first place. Now that Rodgers is in a new home and Lazard is stuck under contract, it feels like we can comfortably project regression. Not necessarily due to a lack of ability, just a lack of involvement.
Allen Lazard is trending down on Jets WR depth chart
Only half of Lazard's four-year, $44 million contract was actually guaranteed at signing. The Jets probably won't cut bait with only a $4.6 million cap hit on the books in 2025, but it's fair to wonder what Lazard's future looks like beyond this season. Hell, there's a world in which he ends up as trade fodder, perhaps for the Steelers, who still need help in the wide receiver room. Rodgers going to bat for a former teammate is not exactly unheard of. We've seen it with (*checks notes*) oh yeah, Allen Lazard.
Tyler Johnson, who put up 291 yards and a touchdown in 15 games for the Los Angeles Rams last season, feels like Lazard's most direct competition for playing time. That said, Arian Smith was a fourth-round pick out of Georgia, a program with a long track record of developing NFL-ready pros. Fields and Smith did not overlap in their time at UGA, but there's a connection there and Smith has major tools. Consistency was a real issue in college, but Smith's ability to take the lid off a defense and generate extra yards out in space gives him outlier potential, especially relative to his draft position.
Short story short, there will be significant competition for Lazard in camp. He's still in poll position to start games, potentially even as WR2, but Lazard was on the decline before Rodgers took the field in East Rutherford. Now that the four-time MVP is gone, Fields threatens to veer away from the seven-year vet.