NFL beat writers briefly gave every New York Jets fan a heart attack Thursday morning, over what now appears to just be a toe injury for quarterback Justin Fields.
It was about 9:30 a.m. ET when Mike Greenberg and every Jets fan sat in disbelief after seeing social media posts from beat writers reporting Fields was “carted off” with a lower leg injury. Immediately, Jets fan were having flashbacks to Aaron Rodgers tearing his Achilles just four snaps into his tenure with New York two years ago. And here was Fields, Rodgers’ successor, potentially suffering a similar fate before they even started practicing with pads on.
Thankfully, head coach Aaron Glenn has since tempered those immediate concerns by reporting Fields suffered a toe injury Thursday morning in practice. That’s not to downplay the importance of a toe, but the current outlook of being day-to-day is certainly better than an Achilles.
Every Jets writer and reporter who shared the news of Fields being carted off with a leg injury knew what the immediate reaction was going to be on social media. Which brings us to Nick Wright, who believes those writers should be more transparent in their reporting.
“NFL beat writers – we need precise language. We need the difference between carted off and rode a cart off… carted off connotates season over, rode a cart off is very different.”@getnickwright says following the reports of Justin Fields’ toe injury this morning we need more… pic.twitter.com/kJ0KMyzHfQ
— What’s Wright? with Nick Wright (@WhatsWrightShow) July 24, 2025
“Aaron Glenn has come out and said it’s a toe. And then, the further reporting is ‘was sitting in the cart.’ And this is a problem every training camp,” Wright said. “NFL beat writers – we need precise language. We need the difference between carted off and rode a cart off.”
Wright went on to explain that ‘carted off’ implies what we see when a player gets carted off from the field in a game. Teammates surrounding the cart with a limb needing to be immobilized as the injured player goes into the locker room with a towel over their head. But a player riding off in the front seat of a cart during training camp to cut some distance off their walk probably doesn’t need to spark the panic that was sparked Thursday morning when Jets fans saw Fields was “carted off.”
“Everybody knows carted off connotates, ‘oh my God, season over.’ Rode a cart off is very different,” Wright continued. “So, we just need to be a little more precise with our language on it.”
Credit ESPN’s Rich Cimini, who immediately reported Fields was riding shotgun in the cart. But even beat writers who omitted that detail can still argue they didn’t misreport anything. Fields suffered an injury, he tried to walk and required a cart. Although the additional detail that he rode off in the front of the cart as opposed to being laid up in a flatbed would have been helpful context.
Beat writers hate when video of a quarterback throwing a pass 10 yards out of bounds during training camp, from a fan, goes viral without context, causing an uproar from said fanbase. Similarly, the context that a quarterback rode off in the front seat of a golf cart might help temper any unnecessary uproar. At least for a little bit.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com