The Buccaneers are likely to have a new coaching staff in place soon, and none of their three quarterbacks are locked into 2019 roster spots. The oldest of those players, however, is not quite ready to retire.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is leaning toward coming back for a 15th NFL season, Greg Auman of The Athletic reports (subscription required).
This week, Fitzpatrick will be the Bucs’ No. 3 quarterback, behind Jameis Winston and Ryan Griffin, Auman adds. Although the Bucs’ highest point of the season came when Fitzmagic had them at 2-0, he was twice benched for Winston. The fourth-year Bucs starter has a guaranteed-for-injury $20MM salary for 2019, but it’s far from certain he will be back.
Fitzpatrick signed two one-year deals with the Bucs over the past two years, the most recent for $3.3MM. He will certainly attract interest from teams looking for a backup quarterback. Fitz has posted four 400-yard games this season, doing so in just seven starts, and still has a 9.6 yards-per-attempt figure to go along with a 66.7 percent completion rate.
Free agency is set to include younger passers like Teddy Bridgewater, Tyrod Taylor and (probably) Nick Foles. They may receive more attention as bridge-starter-type options. Joe Flacco and Ryan Tannehill are also rumored to be available, complicating next year’s market. But Fitzpatrick could receive a look as well from teams looking for mentors/stopgaps for their to-be-determined rookie signal-callers. The Bucs shouldn’t be ruled out on this front, either, particularly if they do choose to move on from Winston.
Why not? He’ll get a few millions, back up, take over and show some flashes, then fade…repeat…