Thursday provided an interesting look at the state of NFL media after New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields left training camp with an injury. Several reporters on-site shared news of Fields being carted off the field after hurting his leg. The worst was feared and perhaps some overreacted to the incident considering Fields is already back on the gridiron a day later.
So, what happened? Well, the same thing that always happens as everyone reacts to the very first thing and the narrative is spiraling out of control before subsequent updates completely change things.
The toothpaste is out of the tube when it comes to asking consumers to hold their horses and wait for more information when something happens. And, when the New York Jets quarterback suffers what initially is believed to be a significant injury, that's going to be the biggest story in sports when it's late-July.
But Nick Wright offered some helpful advice to reporters doing the work of informing the public when speaking on his podcast What's Wright with Nick Wright this week.
"NFL beat writers," Wright started. "We need precise language. We need the difference between carted off and rose a cart off ... Carted off connotates season over, rode a cart off is very different."
"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
He's not wrong. It would be helpful to have the most accurate picture of what happened. On the other hand, these beat reporters are sweating it out on the hot sun watching practice and are in a race against their peers to get attention when anything interesting happens. There is no rule that the public has to rush to immediately imagine Fields is out for the season and bring up the Jets trading for Kirk Cousins to fix it, but that's what's going to happen.
The important thing here is that Fields appears to be fine and his status for Week 1 is the same as it was before the cart ride in question.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nick Wright Offers NFL Beat Writers Advice After Justin Fields Cart Ride.