Former Jets QB Details Concerning Interaction With Owner Woody Johnson

This is not a good look.

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has made some concerning comments toward his quarterbacks in recent seasons. / Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jets owner Woody Johnson made headlines last week for some harsh comments he gave about quarterback Justin Fields. At the NFL owner's meetings, Johnson said, "It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that we got," as well as saying "if we could just complete a pass, it would look good."

According to former Jets quarterback Jordan Travis, these aren't the only troubling comments Johnson has made to one of the team's quarterbacks. The Jets picked Travis in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft after suffering a devastating injury that ended his final season of college prematurely, and he ended up retiring earlier this year after his rehab was unsuccessful. Despite dealing with a serious leg injury, Travis remembers Johnson asking him, "Are you ever gonna get healthy?"

"That guy, no disrespect, but there were things that were said to me, not obviously to that point, because I never got on the field to play, but, about my leg. Just slick comments," Travis said on the Travis Takes Two podcast. "I don't know if he was trying to be slick about it, or you know how some older people they just kind of say whatever that comes to their mind, and it kind of made me feel a certain type of way."

Interesting tidbit about #Jets owner Woody Johnson from Jordan Travis (@jordantrav13) pic.twitter.com/O3tDFfY9IF

— Zach (@JetsPrime) October 29, 2025

"Not 'how you feeling?' Never that," Travis recalled. "There was always comments like that. It kind of upset me, but it kind of rolled over my head."

Travis also expressed "kudos" to Fields, who followed up Johnson's comments by leading the Jets to their first victory of the season on Sunday over the Bengals.

Johnson did end up receiving backlash for his comments about Fields, including from former 49ers, Chiefs and Commanders quarterback Alex Smith, who said, "Maybe the problem is you, Woody. Maybe you look in the mirror. You have the longest playoff drought in all of the NFL. It starts at the top, and it trickles down. This is cowardly. This is an owner that's deflecting because his organization is terrible, and he drove the bus over a 26-year-old quarterback."

Given the Jets hold the NFL's longest active playoff drought, like Smith mentioned, and have failed seemingly no matter who is at coach or quarterback, management and ownership certainly bares a strong portion of the blame for the Jets woes—and the way they've treated their players.

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