Once Washington franchise tagged Kirk Cousins and the Philadelphia Eagles gave Sam Bradford a two-year contract, it seemed the next domino to fall at the quarterback position was Ryan Fitzpatrick.
It seemed inevitable that a new deal between Fitzpatrick and his 2015 team, the New York Jets, would come in short order. But now, a week after the NFL’s free agency period has begun, Fitzpatrick and the Jets have not come to agreement. In fact, the two sides are in stalemate in negotiations, which puts the Jets’ quarterback position in limbo, as well as Fitzpatrick’s 2016 season.
It was the Cousins franchise-tagging (worth over $19 million this year) and Bradford’s deal ($18 million in average per-year value) that made negotiations between the Jets and Fitzpatrick more complicated. He now has a new baseline for his yearly value—or at least, what he perceives his yearly value to be—and it’s a number that, to date, has proven too high for the Jets to pay. This doesn’t mean Fitzpatrick won’t be on a roster this season, or even a starter. But the clock is ticking and his opportunities are dwindling if the Jets don’t come forth with an offer he finds agreeable or if he doesn’t dial down his asking price.
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Initially, the Jets offered Fitzpatrick a deal averaging at $7 million in value, according to the MMQB.com’s Peter King, a paltry amount that equates to backup money at best in the current NFL financial climate. And for Fitzpatrick, who despite being a 33-year old journeyman did have the best season of his career in 2015, has every reason to find this offer to be insulting. He helped lead the Jets to a 10-6 record last year, and had personal bests in passing yards (3,905) and touchdowns (31), while throwing only 15 interceptions and being sacked just 19 times. As a result, Fitzpatrick’s camp pivoted toward the Denver Broncos, who too need a quarterback after losing out on the Brock Osweiler bidding war with the Houston Texans.
But Fitzpatrick’s proposal to the Broncos also proved too pricey, especially for a team that has just over $11 million in salary cap space at present—and that needs to reserve around $6 million of that money for their 2016 draft picks. If the Broncos weren’t willing to pay a known quantity like Osweiler the cash that Houston did—a four-year deal worth $72 million, with $37 million in guaranteed money—then they wouldn’t clear space to do so for Fitzpatrick, either. That leaves Fitzpatrick with just two non-Jets options if he wants to remain a starting quarterback in 2016: The San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns.
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The problem here is that the Niners and Browns have yet to kick Fitzpatrick’s tires in earnest. Both teams can afford him at his current asking price, with both teams possessing north of $40 million in salary cap room. But right now, the Niners, Browns and Broncos are engaged in slow-burning talks for the rights to current 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The Browns have also been linked to the top two quarterbacks in the 2016 draft, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz. And it’s also possible that the Niners will retain Kaepernick’s rights when his salary guarantees on April 1, sparking a quarterback battle between himself, Blaine Gabbert and potentially a third person. This could result in Denver getting desperate enough to put forth an offer to Fitzpatrick closer to what he has been seeking. But more than likely, all of this inactivity will lead Fitzpatrick and the Jets to a reunion.
As King points out, there’s no need for the Jets to hurry on getting this deal done. The quarterback situation is one that needs to be solved before team workouts begin in late spring. King suggests that nothing will happen immediately unless the Broncos, Niners or Browns start moving in on Fitzpatrick more seriously. Otherwise, he expects that Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan will eventually increase the offer “to something in the $12-million-a-year range.”
That’s still a low-ball offer, compared to the going rate for the position at present, making Fitzpatrick one of the lowest-paid starting quarterbacks in the league for 2016. But it is better than what is presently on the table, better than what the Broncos are apparently willing to spend and the well-moneyed 49ers and Browns have yet to come calling.
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Fitzpatrick would be wise to accept that $12 million per-year deal, should it come—and the Jets would be wise to give it to him. Even with the Jets playing host to fellow free agent quarterback Robert Griffin III last week, Fitzpatrick is the team’s best option at quarterback at present. There are promising talents to be had in the draft, to be sure, but no one clearly ready to start and succeed immediately. The pool of free agent quarterbacks has thinned. Geno Smith is not the direction the Jets want to go; they’ve already been there and done that, which is why Fitzpatrick was there last year in the first place. Fitzpatrick also built considerable chemistry in a short time with receivers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker in 2015 to the point that they were the most productive pair of wideouts in the league.
Marshall certainly wants Fitzpatrick back for the 2016 season, saying recently on the Rich Eisen Show about the quarterback that, “In every relationship, the No. 1 thing is communication and trust. And the way we communicate, the way we practice together, the way we bring other guys together—I’ve never seen that anywhere else, and I’ve been a lot of places, and I’ve had a lot of quarterbacks.” Newly-signed running back Matt Forte—who has proven capable of handing a high volume of passes in the past, whether the Jets plan on using him that way or not—also “would expect and hope” that Fitzpatrick will serve as starter going forward.
The Jets sticking with Fitzpatrick would be a mutually-beneficial relationship. But it all comes down to the money, as it does so often in the NFL. Fitzpatrick needs the right deal, not necessarily the right team.
