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Contract Expired - The End Of Ryan Fitzpatrick


SAR I

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1 minute ago, Dcat said:

Oh I agree completely.  I was just pointing out the lack of logic in hating Pennington but at the same time thinking that Fitzpatrick was any good for this team.  Pennigton was infinitely better than the fraud journeyman we had here for two seasons.  Fitz never made a single playoff game in his long, transient history in the NFL.  I just don't get how anyone in their right mind could praise him for what he did while at the same time bashing a much more capable QB who gave us a hell of a better ride than the charlatan with a beard.

Fitzpatrick will be nothing in Jets lore but a silly afterthought.  He sucks and always has from the day he entered the NFL.  

Great line. I apologize, didn't mean to seem like I was attacking you. I just can 't stand, like you so eloquently put it above, how people can even compare the effort, class, hard work and results that Chad gave us vs. the embarrassment that Fitzpatrick was to us. 

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It will be interesting to see if he continues his career or hangs them up. I'm sure he's got enough money to live on comfortably if he wants to and probably he will have some kind of a business career after football. My problem with him this year were the careless mistakes and red zone turnovers. Not what I expected from an experienced vet Qb. Sure there were circumstances like always having to play from behind because of poor defense. After that bad spell of games including the six pack he wasn't that bad but not good enough to lead the team from behind and win some of those games. So if he plays Fitz is back in that pool of vet backups but like he's done most of his career he could get a chance to play if there are injuries. He's better than most NFL backups but the coaching staff would have to rein him in because he plays carelessly. Takes too many chances and doesn't have the natural talent to overcome it. 

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Now that the Fitz era appears to be over, this is an interesting article by Cimini.  While disagree with some of his points, I do agree the Jets should have given Fitz a take it or leave it offer early on during the process, rather than let this drag out all offseason and into training camp. 

http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/66851/as-ryan-fitzpatricks-contract-voids-the-jets-can-reflect-on-a-painful-lesson

To say it's the end of an era is a bit much, but it's definitely the end of something.

Something that was wonderful for a year, but went horribly wrong after that.

Per the terms of his agreement with the New York Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick's contract automatically voids five days after the Super Bowl ... and that means Friday. Fitzpatrick's two-year run with the team is over and, as the quarterback acknowledged late in the season, there's virtually no chance of him re-signing.

So what's the major takeaway from Fitzpatrick's time with the Jets? First and foremost, you'd like to think the team learned a hard lesson about negotiations and the importance of team-building in the offseason.

The Jets weren't wrong for wanting to re-sign Fitzpatrick, a free agent after the 2015 season. After all, he won 10 games in 2015 and set the franchise record with 31 touchdown passes in his first season with the team. No, their mistake was how they handled the negotiations.

Instead of drawing a line in the sand, giving him a take-it-or-leave-it offer, the Jets let it drag out through free agency ... through the draft ... through minicamp ... all the way to the eve of training camp. It bordered on ridiculous because the Jets wanted him, he wanted them and there was no third-party threat -- i.e., a team interested in Fitzpatrick or another quarterback that interested the Jets.

Fitzpatrick versus the Jets became a huge distraction, one of the biggest stories in the NFL. It swallowed up the team, causing unrest in the locker room. At one point, receivers Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall reportedly skipped a few voluntary workouts as a show of support for Fitzpatrick.

The offseason matters, even for an old pro like Fitzpatrick. It's all about building chemistry in the locker room, in the weight room and on the field.

I remember something Bill Parcells said back in 1999. Vinny Testaverde was coming off after a brilliant year and was planning to spend the offseason at his home in Tampa, Florida, where he trained in a state-of-the-art fitness room on his property. Parcells demanded that he work out with the team, claiming it was important for the Jets' leader to be among his teammates. The quarterback relented. As it turned out, Testaverde, the part-owner of an aviation company, used a private jet to commute twice a week to Long Island. But he participated with his teammates.

Fitzpatrick, unhappy with the Jets' low-ball offer (three years, $24 million), stayed away. The Jets went through the entire offseason without their leader. They could've ended it in March by offering the same deal he wound up taking in July -- one year, $12 million -- but they let it turn into a battle of egos.

I think coach Todd Bowles, a big believer in team chemistry, underestimated the impact of not having Fitzpatrick around. (Full disclosure: I did, but I don't get paid to run the team.) It also created an awkward dynamic. For five months, the Jets pretended Geno Smith was their starter, only to "demote" him the minute Fitzpatrick walked through the door on the eve of training camp. It was unfair to Smith.

The Jets let one player become bigger than the team. Do you think Parcells, or even Bill Belichick, would've allowed that to happen? No way. They would've told Fitzpatrick to take a hike in April, turning to Plan B. In this case, it might have been someone like Brian Hoyer.

Presumably, general manager Mike Maccagnan learned something from the drawn-out soap opera: Don't let yourself be held hostage by a player.

Was the contract stalemate the reason for Fitzpatrick's terrible season? It's impossible to say, but it created a weird vibe around the team. When he started throwing interceptions, it put the team in a tough spot. A quick hook would've sent a mixed message, considering they held his spot for the entire offseason. As it turned out, he threw the Jets out of the season, with 17 interceptions in 11 starts.

Fitzpatrick finished with a 69.6 passer rating, 18 points below the NFL average. Based on that premise, it was the fourth-worst quarterback season in team history (post-merger). A diminished Joe Namath was 23.7 below the average in 1976; Kellen Clemens was 20 below in 2007; and Mark Sanchez was 18.2 below in 2009. Clemens and Sanchez had an excuse; they were first-time starters.

Fitzpatrick did a lot of good things. He galvanized the team in the aftermath of the Smith/IK Enemkpali fiasco; he energized the fan base in 2015 and provided more leadership than people outside the locker room can appreciate. But his legacy will be the contract dispute, which hurt him and his team.

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3 hours ago, KRL said:

Hopefully the front office/coach has learned not to let a "scrubby" player like Fitzpatrick hold
the offseason hostage.  They should've set a hard take it or leave it date in the negotiations
and moved on.  I'll never believe Fitzpatrick wasn't negatively impacted by not being in the facility
for seven months developing chemistry with the new offensive players we were bringing in    

+10000  Best post in this thread. 

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1 hour ago, Rangers9 said:

It will be interesting to see if he continues his career or hangs them up. I'm sure he's got enough money to live on comfortably if he wants to and probably he will have some kind of a business career after football. My problem with him this year were the careless mistakes and red zone turnovers. Not what I expected from an experienced vet Qb. Sure there were circumstances like always having to play from behind because of poor defense. After that bad spell of games including the six pack he wasn't that bad but not good enough to lead the team from behind and win some of those games. So if he plays Fitz is back in that pool of vet backups but like he's done most of his career he could get a chance to play if there are injuries. He's better than most NFL backups but the coaching staff would have to rein him in because he plays carelessly. Takes too many chances and doesn't have the natural talent to overcome it. 

Maybe interesting to you. I could care less personally. 

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27 minutes ago, UnitedWhofans said:

And because Jets fans and the media need to whine, they will bring up the 5m in dead money. IT'S 5 f***ing million dollars. Give it a break 

That is back end roster money. Easy to see how ST's here is putrid at best. Dead money is not free.

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4 hours ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

Yeah something like that, with guaranteed money the first two seasons. So the deal he took actually saved the Jets money. 

And let's not forget, Ryan Fitzpatrick never happens if Geno Smith was anything resembling a decent quarterback. 

That is an alternative fact. Geno doesnt get his jaw broken, he's the starter and Fitz is riding the pine. Fitz becoming the starter was due to Geno's injury, not because Geno was playing poorly that year.

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40 minutes ago, Awesumtenor said:

That is an alternative fact. Geno doesnt get his jaw broken, he's the starter and Fitz is riding the pine. Fitz becoming the starter was due to Geno's injury, not because Geno was playing poorly that year.

And if Geno was a good quarterback he would have gotten the starting spot back from the backup in 2015, no? Or if he was good they wouldn't have had to bring Fitz back in 2016, right? Fitzpatrick' career as a Jet is directly related to the terrible player Geno is and he's gone too, which is the bigger relief. 

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1 hour ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

And if Geno was a good quarterback he would have gotten the starting spot back from the backup in 2015, no? Or if he was good they wouldn't have had to bring Fitz back in 2016, right? Fitzpatrick' career as a Jet is directly related to the terrible player Geno is and he's gone too, which is the bigger relief. 

Futz displayed the worst of any Jets QB this past season. Stop trying to defend your huge mistake. There is no place to hide. Eat the row. You and the others here have earned it

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1 minute ago, Jetdawgg said:

Futz displayed the worst of any Jets QB this past season. Stop trying to defend your huge mistake. There is no place to hide. Eat the row. You and the others here have earned it

Eat the row? What does that even mean? My huge mistake? I forgot I was in the room when they signed the deal. Your blame should be placed on Macc and Bowles. 

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59 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

Eat the row? What does that even mean? My huge mistake? I forgot I was in the room when they signed the deal. Your blame should be placed on Macc and Bowles. 

i think he means you need to eat crow and a big portion of it. 

My condolences to you today. 

Image result for kleenex box pics

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3 hours ago, section314 said:

When Fitz said " he'd rather retire" than take the Jets offer, that would have ended it in my book. Thanks for absolutely nothing you dirtbag.

Except he never said that.

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8 hours ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

 

And let's not forget, Ryan Fitzpatrick never happens if Geno Smith was anything resembling a decent quarterback. 

Exactly.

The 2016 Fitzpatrick disappointment is because of the 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 failures of Geno Smith.  Four wasted, horrific seasons yet some play him as a martyr.  F Geno.

SAR I

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cimini is basically writing what many posters have already said.  hindsight is usually 20-20 and doesn't take much courage.  obviously fitz's holdout caused more issues than expected.  he's gone.  it's time to move on.  and it's also time to move on from that punk geno.

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18 hours ago, long suffering jets fan said:

I focus on the good times.  Two years ago was the best I felt being a Jets fan for a long time.  Don't begrudge him the $12M, I'd do the same thing if I were him/his agent and so would you.  The Jets didn't have to pay him, but they did.

He played hard, he made no excuses.  As a journeyman quarterback you expect 50/50 and that's what we got, one great season one bad season.

SAR I

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