The Dolphins benched Ryan Fitzpatrick midway through a season that ended with the veteran quarterback contracting COVID-19. But the well-traveled passer still played a key role in the Dolphins’ success and would like to return for a 17th season in 2021.
Dolphins GM Chris Grier was noncommittal on Fitzpatrick’s status with the franchise, which has since been linked to Deshaun Watson after proclaiming Tua Tagovailoa its 2021 starter. But it sounds like Fitz will be open to joining a ninth team — or perhaps returning to one of the previous franchises that employed him — next season.
“This offseason, we already saw it with [Jared] Goff and [Matthew] Stafford obviously,” Fitzpatrick said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show (via the South Florida Sun-Sentinel). “Who knows what’s going to happen with Deshaun? There’s rumors everywhere in the quarterback market, but there are a lot of teams looking for a new quarterback or new quarterbacks.
“For me, personally, I have to take every offseason and reassess. These last two years have really re-lit that fire under me. I still want to play, and I enjoy being out there playing.”
Fitzpatrick enjoyed an unusual role in his age-38 season. The Dolphins benched him for Tagovailoa but twice brought him into games as a late relief option. The second such instance produced a last-second victory against the Raiders. Fitz’s late 30s have featured stretches of production that would make him, at worst, a viable backup candidate for next season. He led a much worse 2019 Dolphins team to five wins and averaged 9.6 yards per attempt as a part-time starter for the 2018 Buccaneers.
The Harvard alum has played for the Rams, Bengals, Bills, Titans, Texans, Jets, Bucs and Dolphins since being drafted in the 2005 seventh round. The Dolphins signed Fitz to a two-year, $11MM deal in 2019, and he opened the past two seasons as the team’s starter over recent top-10 picks (Tagovailoa and Josh Rosen). The Dolphins can extend Fitzpatrick until the new league year begins and can obviously re-sign him after that March date. If he hits the market, it will be interesting to see what kind of outside interest develops.
Now they’ll have an offensive coordinator for each quarterback
But in all seriousness I think Washington makes some sense here
as a starter or behind Smith?
Not sure smith comes back to Washington. They’ll cut him for sure but whether he’ll resign, or even want to play anywhere is still unknown. They missed on Stafford, not sure they have the desire to pay the cost for Watson or if he’ll waive his NTC to go there, so if a Smith reunion doesn’t work for both sides Fitz might make some sense as a veteran who could win with a great defense and some decent pieces and could mentor a draft pick
backup in Philly and Wentz goes bye bye
Backup for the Gmen
@Perksy sounds like a great idea to me.
Starter* for the Gmen
Seems like a fit for the Bears maybe
Raiders
Saints, Colts, Broncos and Giants are all good landing spots. Indy needs a starter. The other 3 have still unproven young QB’s
I could see the Broncos wanting him bad. I mean, he’s a QB with a pulse.
Giants
Do the Colts roll the dice? They seem to be a QB away from contender status
You think he is better than Rivers
Rivers retired
Patriots need a starter also
I say yes only if they draft a QB in the first round they need to worry about the future the bill’s legacy there’s no change that
Fitz will sign after the Watson drama shakes out and any remaining QB moves have settled. He’s someone who can lead a team, but no organization wants to let have the keys for more than a season. He’s good enough to do so, and most importantly brings a sense of professionalism and actually a bit of grit to a team. Fitz is great to set up a franchise for success, even if he is not the guy who will end up carrying them there. That’s how GMs see him-a 1a player instead of a true backup or true number 1 starter. You wouldn’t sign Fitz to back up a QB, you’d sign him to compete with your starter or hold things down until your starter is ready. I doubt Fitz would like to be a traditional backup anyway.
We’ll only know which teams will need that type of player after the chips have settled in free agency and teams have decided whether or not they want draft a new QB (and therefore will need a bridge starter to handle things in between).
Sounds a lot like Steve DeBerg back in the day.
Fitzmagic tends to run hot and cold but he’s the kind of player that can have a positive locker room presence.
so pretty much anywhere according to us.
This guy needs to go to New England. Not only would it complete his AFC East infinity gauntlet, but he’d be a perfect veteran presence to help whatever young QB we end up with. As a pats fan I’d be excited to watch again if he was around.