The New York Jets and free agent quarterback Justin Fields reached a contract agreement with Fields getting a two-year, $40 million deal that includes $30 million guaranteed.

Fields, 26, now becomes the favorite to be the Jets starting quarterback in 2025.

The Bears drafted Fields out of Ohio State with the 11th overall pick in 2021, the same draft that the Jets took Zach Wilson with the No. 2 pick. Fields showed flashes of potential but it never clicked for him in Chicago as he played for two different head coaches and two different offensive coordinators in his three years there. He went 10-28 as the starting quarterback and the Bears moved on last year, trading him to the Steelers.

Fields started the first six games of last season in Pittsburgh and did some good things. He threw five passing touchdowns and rushed for five more and had only one interception. The team was 4-2 when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin decided to switch to Russell Wilson as his starter.

Fields played sparingly for the rest of the season and is now moving on from Pittsburgh, which reportedly was interested in re-signing him.

In his career, Fields has thrown 45 touchdowns, run for another 19  and thrown 31 interceptions. He has a career QB rating of 83.9 and a 61.1 completion percentage.

For the first time in 70 years, two Yankees aged 25 or younger went deep in the first game of the season. The last time that happened, Mickey Mantle was involved, and the Yankees reached the World Series.

Austin Wells, a 25-year-old catcher, and Anthony Volpe, a 24-year-old shortstop, delivered homers Thursday on the way to a relatively breezy, 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Southpaw Carlos Rodón cruised through 5 innings in place of injured ace Gerrit Cole. Captain Aaron Judge laced a timely double that doinked off third base in the seventh. Things got hairy for new closer Devin Williams against his former club in the ninth, but the All-Star held on for his first save in pinstripes.

And the home fans — all 46,208 of them went home happy.

Both Volpe and Wells are crucial not just to this season but also to the next half-decade of Yankees baseball. Aaron Judge will turn 33 in April. Cole will be 35 when he returns next season. Goldschmidt, Williams and Bellinger can be free agents this winter. Jazz Chisholm Jr. could depart the next winter.

And so, the blossoming of Volpe, Wells and Domínguez is not a pipe dream or a nice bonus. It is, as Boone said, something the Yankees are “relying upon.”

“Those guys are gonna be a big part of our future — and our success this year.”

New York Yankee Gerrit Cole had Tommy John surgery.

Cole was experiencing elbow discomfort during a spring training outing and underwent an MRI that ultimately revealed the need for Tommy John surgery.

The news is a devastating blow to the Yankees and Cole, who’s approaching what would be his 13th MLB season at 34 years old. 

Pitchers who undergo the procedure to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament generally face a 12-to-18-month timetable to return. The procedure rules Cole out for the entire 2025 season and places his long-term future as an MLB ace in doubt.