Ex-Jet Jordan Travis can sympathize with Justin Fields.
The retired quarterback revealed that Jets owner Woody Johnson made crass comments to him while he rehabbed from what was a career-ending leg injury from 2024-25.
Johnson made headlines recently by singularly calling out Fields following a poor Week 7 showing against the Panthers.
“I gotta tell you, that guy, no disrespect, but there were things said to me, not obviously to that point because I never got on the field to play, but about my leg,” Travis said on the “Travis Takes Two” podcast on Oct. 24. “Like, just slick comments I don’t know if he was trying to be slick about it. You know how some older people, they just say whatever comes to their mind and it kind of made me feel a certain type of way.
“‘You ever gonna get healthy?’ And I’m just like, ‘Damn.’ Not like, ‘How you feeling?’ Never that, it was always comments like that. It kind of upset me but kind of rolled over my head.”
Johnson’s approach as an owner has come under the microscope following his stunning comments about Fields as the team started 0-7.
Following back-to-back Fields duds against the Broncos and Panthers, the latter earning him a mid-game benching, Johnson called out his quarterback.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got. He has the ability, but something is not jibing,” Johnson said at the owners meeting last week. “If you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you are going to see similar results across the league. You have to play consistently at that position, and that’s what we’re going to try to do for the remainder of the season.”
He added: “If we could just complete a pass, it would look good.”
That story struck a chord with Travis, who spent one full season with the Jets after being drafted in the fifth round of the 2024 draft.
Travis suffered what proved to be a career-ending injury in his senior season with Florida State and despite his best attempts, he could not make his way back.
He retired this April, citing doctors’ advice.
“On November 18, 2023, my life took an unexpected turn,” Travis wrote on X. “I gave everything I had to the rehab process but despite all my efforts, my leg never responded the way we hoped. After much prayer and consultation with the doctors, medical experts and my agent, I’ve been medically advised to retire from the game I love so deeply.”
Travis did not reveal any further comments made by Johnson toward him, although his older brother, Devon, who spent four years with the Blue Jays, went off on Johnson.
“Be better, bro. What, because you’re rich as hell and you’re the owner of the team you can flat-out disrespect your quarterback that you OK’d the contract to be good on?” Devon said.
Jordan praised Fields for how he handled the situation, with the dual-threat signal caller leading the Jets to their first win this past Sunday in a crazy 39-38 road victory over the Bengals.
“Kudos to Justin Fields, I don’t know if you saw his press conference, you can see on his face he’s not even distraught, bro,” Jordan said. “It’s really cool, inspired me, I freaking reposted it on my Instagram. Now, it’s his chance, he’s getting his attention, God still has his hand on him the whole time.”
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