Fields had been viewed as the number two for much of the season, but there was thought to be a big gap between him and the presumptive number one, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. As a result, there was some consternation at the fact that the Jets worsened their draft position with a couple of late-season wins. After a couple of shaky performances by Fields against Indiana and Northwestern, attention started to turn to Wilson instead.

Wilson moved himself into serious contention to be the second pick with his performance in the Boca Raton Bowl. He threw five touchdown passes in a blowout win over UCF, showcasing the flashy style that makes him an exciting prospect.

However, attention flipped back to Fields after the Buckeyes' playoff win over Clemson. Fields did Wilson one better by passing for six touchdowns, completely outplaying Lawrence to narrow the perception of any gap between the two.

The book on Wilson is that he has a great arm, reads the field well and is instinctive and creative in much the same way as Patrick Mahomes in how he will alter his arm angle to get passes off or complete tight window throws. However, some question how he would have fared against tougher competition and how successful that style will be at the next level. He also has had a shoulder injury in the past which teams will want to assess closely.

Fields is the more athletic of the two but not considered as adept at going through his progressions and faced similar questions about how his worst games came against his strongest competition.

He eradicated those concerns in his performance against Clemson though, putting up a signature performance against top opposition and making multiple impressive reads and decisions. He also showed terrific toughness to stay in the game after taking a painful shot to the back, although the decision not to slide there was troublesome.

Based on that game, you would think Fields was the obvious choice. However, if he fails to repeat this in Monday night’s national title game against Alabama, that could change everything.

There is plenty of time to go between now and April’s draft so it’s obviously not certain the Jets will end up with one of these two, or even get to choose between them. What if Fields lights it up on Monday and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who own the first overall pick and have yet to fill their own head coaching vacancy, end up drafting him first overall? Then the assumption would be that the Jets would jump at the chance to take Lawrence.

Alternatively, someone else could jump into the mix as a possible top three quarterback late in the process, much like Daniel Jones did in 2019. Trey Lance is considered more of a project having played at a lower level with North Dakota State, but if he or someone like Heisman finalist Mac Jones really impress during the pre-draft process, their stock could soar.

Finally, some still think the Jets would be better off bringing Darnold back and using the second pick and the rest of their draft to surround him with weapons. A few experts have released mock drafts this week where the Jets opt to select a non-quarterback and build around Darnold instead of giving up on him.

These eventualities seem unlikely, though. If, as expected, the Jets are on the clock in April and face a choice between Fields and Wilson, they will base their decision on some of the things mentioned here. In fact, some of these considerations are probably already being discussed as part of the ongoing interview process.

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