TUESDAY: 8:42am: Fitzpatrick’s three-year, $24MM deal can balloon up to $36MM with incentives, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The deal, which as previously reported would pay him $12MM in year one, would give him more than $15MM guaranteed.
SUNDAY, 3:01pm: Reports last week indicated that the Jets had a offer on the table for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, and today we’ve received a little more clarification on the details of that contract proposal. New York has offered Fitzpatrick a three-year deal worth $24MM in total, with $12MM available in 2016, but an average of only $6MM per year in 2017 and 2018, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Eric Decker sitting out OTAs in support of Fitzpatrick]
Obviously, that report leaves some information to be desired, such as the exact structure of the contact with respect to bonuses, whether they be signing or roster. But at first glance, it would seem that Fitzpatrick would earn $6MM base salaries in each of the next three seasons, with a $6MM bonus payable in 2016. If it’s a roster bonus, it would be prorated over the life of the contract, meaning Fitzpatrick would count for $8MM against the cap from 2016-2018.
That $8MM annual average would rank just 23rd among quarterbacks in the NFL, behind the likes of Andy Dalton and Nick Foles and just ahead of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. If that’s the case, it’s not surprising that Fitzpatrick finds that offer a bit unfair after a season during which he helped the Jets to a 10-6 record while passing for almost 4,000 yards and 31 touchdowns. Fitzpatrick has indicated that he’d like to re-sign with Gang Green, however, and there aren’t many other clubs around the league that are still looking for a signal-caller.
PFR recently ranked Fitzpatrick as the No. 1 available free agent left on the board, placing him ahead of Anquan Boldin, Arian Foster, and others.
Photo via Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.
When the Jets open 0-4 then what?
with or without fitzp?
I wish the Jets would pull the offer entirely. The last time the Buffalo Bills gave him a big contract after a “Fools Gold” season it came back to bite them big time. Yes he had a good season but for anyone to believe Fitz is a big time QB is moronic. No team wants him other than as a backup. The Jets should call his bluff and move on from him. The Jets as presently constituted aren’t a Super Bowl contender anyway. Let the young QB’s develop and gain valuable experience. I for one remember how awful he was in the last game against Buffalo. That’s the real Fitz! If he choked in a must win game how do you think he will perform in the play-offs? I say Good Riddance.
I like how every fan always cites the Buffalo game as a reason to not sign him. Did he have a bad game? Yeah. But the guy also had 15 other games that got the Jets into that position. You can’t win every game. There are plenty of guys who have lost “must wins” one year and then eventually came back to have playoff success.
But what do I know…go with Geno Smith who has obviously had so much success for them at this point in his career…so much success that he lost his job to a guy everybody seems to think is a bum. Or go with (basically) two rookies and watch them lose confidence after they struggle after a couple of weeks. The Jets aren’t Super Bowl contenders but for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs for a few years now, the goal isn’t “Super Bowl or nothing”. You have to make the playoffs a couple of years so the players get experience and free agents want to go there because they think they have a shot to win a Super Bowl.