By: Jake Rajala

The mythical, bearded, and genius quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick officially retired today at the age of 39. Fitzmagic has found success on the field with many teams, but he has also been an entertaining off-field presence in the league for a very long time.

Fitzpatrick was a very enticing draft prospect, to say the least. As widely enunciated, the former Harvard QB scored a 48 on the Wonderlic score – which is the third-highest score of all time.

He entered the league as a seventh-round draft pick with the “St. Louis Rams” in 2005. He would play two seasons with the Rams, two seasons with the Bengals, four seasons with the Bills, one season with the Titans, one season with the Texans, two seasons with the Jets, two seasons with the Buccaneers, two seasons with the Dolphins, and one season with the Commanders. Fitz Magic was quite the journeyman QB, but he did have many enjoyable moments with numerous NFL squads.

Fitz Magic really earned his stripes when he torched the Saints defense in Week 1 of 2018 and then dropped four passing TDs against the Eagles in Week 2. The gunslinger also found success as the Dolphins QB in 2020. He reeled in a 4-3 record while making an unearthly throw in a pivotal moment against the Raiders.

The former seventh-round pick was given the keys to be the Week 1 starting QB under Ron Rivera in 2021. Unfortunately, he suffered a brutal hip injury in the first game of the season. Taylor Heinicke replaced Fitz as the QB1 in Week 1 and never looked back for the rest of the 2021-2022 season. It was clear that the long-time QB found ways to improve with old age, but he wasn’t able to stay healthy and perform like a 40+ year old Tom Brady at the back-end of his career. It still should be noted that Fitzmagic was one of those gifted characters in the NFL and many teams are fortunate that he stepped foot in their building.

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By: Jake Rajala

Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is also known as the Gandalf of quarterbacks, is lacing his cleats for his 16th Week 1 appearance in the NFL. “Fitzmagic” is arguably now being given the best opportunity to show he can be a quality starting QB on a competitive team in the entirety of his career. I believe that the bearded veteran QB will do career wonders and complement his ferocious defense very well. Here is why the journeyman QB and fan-favorite can lead his team to glory and put a pin on the divisional hopes of the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, and the prized Dallas Cowboys.

• WR Terry McLaurin

Ryan Fitzpatrick has had the pleasure of being a QB in an offense with Mike Evans, but his new WR in Washington will be the best weapon he’s had yet. For starters, he’s not living and dying by the sword with a WR1, whereas he was in Tampa with Bruce Arian’s vertical, passing attack. He will not only be allowed to be more conservative with his top WR, but his top WR matches his own skillset quite well.

McLaurin’s gift is his deep speed and ability to torch defenses on the backend. Mike Evans and the former Texans great WR Andre Johnson were big body, big-play WRs, but they didn’t have 4.31 speed like McLaurin. Fitzmagic truly can stretch the field and he showed that last season as he was ranked sixth in the league in YPA. The former Dolphins QB also had highlight-reel plays that showed off his arm strength and talent (see below).

McLaurin suffered from playing with the ultra game manager in Alex Smith last season, but he should be back to scorching secondaries in 2020. The 15.8 YPC tally held by Mclaurin in the 2019 season with Case Keenum as the QB should be eclipsed this season with the exciting Fitzmagic as the signal-caller this season.

• The best defense he’s yielded

Fitzmagic may undeservedly get the recognition of a “plug and play QB”, but he truly can take care of the football AND be efficient at the same time. Fitzpatrick hasn’t been awarded a starting gig on a team over the past several seasons that could offer weapons on offense, play above average on defense, and not have to ask him to play lights out at the QB position. For example, in the past several years, he’s played two years for the New York Jets, two years for the once atrocious Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and two years for a mostly struggling Dolphins squad. The Jets were steamrolled in most of their matchups and the Buccaneers had Winston throwing the ball nonstop and learning less while doing it. However, he did play one season with a quality offensive system and defense to compliment him.

When he played with the Texans in 2014, the Texans had the seventh-best scoring defense. Fitzpatrick clocked 17 passing touchdowns to eight interceptions while recording the third-best single season QBR in his career that season. To no surprise, the sharp Texans QB with a talented supporting cast helped his team have the second best takeaway/giveaway ratio in the league. Fitzmagic helped unveil the Texans unveil their best takeaway/giveaway ratio in the “last twenty years”.

Fitzpatrick is finally in an offense where he will have numerous Pro Bowl-caliber players, a coach that hasn’t a young QB breathing down his neck, and a scary defense to allow the veteran QB to play his methodical, splash play, style of game. The best thing going for Fitzpatrick is not just that his defense is good, but his defense is VERY good. The Washington Football Team essentially rode on the backs of the team’s defense into the postseason last year, particularly on the front seven led by 2020 Defensive Rookie of The Year Chase Young. Despite having undrafted QB Taylor Heinicke at QB, this team gave Tom Brady a fight in the wildcard matchup up until the fourth quarter.

I’m not saying the Washington defense can edge out TB12 or Aaron Rodgers by themselves, but if they have a bit more juice at QB, they ought to be able to be real playoff contenders. In the past six Super Bowls, we’ve witnessed very intense defenses with reliable QBs make it to the dance four times. The Broncos garnered a ring with Brock Osweiler at QB, the 49ers play with Jimmy Garopollo at QB, the Rams compete with Jared Goff at QB, and the Eagles win big with Nick Foles calling the shots. Fitzpatrick is a well capable QB who has finally earned himself the golden situation. Expect impressive personal feats to be claimed by the legendary QB and postseason advances to occur in Rivera’s second year leading the hungry team.

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The Washington Football Team won the NFC East and snuck into the playoffs with an abysmal seven wins last season. Even though Ron Rivera won the division and made the dance in his first year as a head coach, the WFT had a large question mark at the QB position. The reigning NFC East champs answered this question mark by adding a unique legend and fan favorite, Ryan Fitzpatrick. 

Fitzpatrick is joining a team that is giving him a better opportunity to start than his most recent past squads (Miami, Tampa Bay), despite his electric performances. The journeyman signal-caller will likely not only start, but he could put up explosive numbers in year one. Here are a few reasons why the 38-year-old could hold up to his “nickname” on a consistent basis and make his first-ever Pro Bowl appearance.

NFC East competition 

This isn’t a sexy reason, but Fitzmagic could stack up his numbers by virtue of playing in four games where the opponents feature dreadful defenses. These opponents would be the Philadelphia Eagles (19th ranked in 2020) and Dallas Cowboys (23rd ranked in 2020). 

The outlook for the Philly defense and Boys defensive unit doesn’t appear to provide reason for massive swings of improvement. The Eagles defense improved on the backend with adding Anthony Harris in free agency, but their CB position continues to be worrisome after Darius Slay on the depth chart. The Eagles will also have a new scheme to learn with Jim Schwartz out of the city of brotherly love.

The Cowboys provided little reason to believe the 2021 model will be more efficient than the 2020 defensive unit. The Cowboys drafted big-time playmaker Micah Parsons, so the rookie should be a spark and long-term solution since Jaylon Smith/Leighton Vander Esch have mightily struggled to regain their 2019 form. Nonetheless, the same inconsistent secondary looms and the pass rush took a blow with the loss of Aldon Smith. 

Top weapons in his career 

Believe it or not, Fitzmagic is entering a situation where he doesn’t only appear to be the favorite candidate to start, but a scenario where he will yield the best skill players he’s seen on the same practice field. Terry McLaurin will be the top wideout he’s played with since Andre Johnson. I believe McLaurin can be at the level of Mike Evans and he’s been near that caliber with some of the worst possible QB situations. WFT also added Curtis Samuel to the offense — one of the most explosive players in space and in the vertical passing game.

The WFT also exhibits two of the most underrated skill players in the league: J.D. McKissic and Logan Thomas. McKissic caught 80 passes and notched 589 yards last season. Thomas was a consistent mismatch while recording the third most receptions by a TE last season. 

Fitzmagic carries more than a strong chance to run away with the starting gig in 2021. The bearded QB that continues to be like fine wine at his position, could oust a Pro Bowl like campaign with the combination of pedestrian battles and explosive pieces around him.

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By: Adam Hulse (Twitter: @AdamHulseSports)

After two successful years with the Miami Dolphins, the man they call Fitzmagic hit the free agent market once again. He received interest from several different teams, but the 38 year old quarterback out of Harvard decided to sign a one year contract with the Washington Football Team. He did not join his now ninth different NFL team to just be a back up, but instead he has every intention of winning the job and being the starter for week one of the upcoming season. Here are three reasons why that is exactly what will happen.

Playing Better Than Ever

His game has showed no signs of declining in recent years. In fact, it could be argued that he is even better now than he ever was. The “prime” of his career and also where he spent the longest stretch of his career was with the Buffalo Bills. He started 53 total games for the Bills over 4 seasons between 2009 and 2012 where he accumulated over 11000 passing yards and threw 80 touchdowns. Over these last two years in Miami, he started 20 total games and threw for over 5500 yards and 33 touchdowns. Though a smaller sample size of course, his per game averages break down to being more productive as a Dolphin.

The one major negative to his gun slinger style of play is that he does throw a good amount of interceptions. In his defense, his interception rate has improved over time and, most importantly, it did not stop him from winning games in Miami last season. He was one of the main reasons why the Dolphins were so competitive last year and almost even made the playoffs. In addition to just the statistics, he is an excellent leader and a very well respected veteran in the locker room, as demonstrated by his efforts to lift a young and rebuilding team to far exceed their expectations last season.

Ready to Win Now

After an encouraging 2020 campaign where they won the NFC East division and made the playoffs, head coach Ron Rivera and the rest of the Washington organization believe this team is built to be a true contender this year. Their defense is already one of the best in the league, fueled by a dominant front seven and a fierce pass rush lead by Chase Young and Montez Sweat. It is a defense that is more than capable of keeping Washington in every game, and a shot to win whenever the offense performs along with them.

The offense has a very young and solid core, lead by a promising running back in Antonio Gibson, a rising star wide receiver in Terry McClaurin, a reliable tight end in Logan Thomas, and a newly acquired weapon in Curtis Samuel. The only thing missing here to complete the team, and it’s a very big missing thing, is the answer at quarterback. This is where Fitzmagic comes in. He was able to perform, and win, with less weapons on offense last year in Miami, so logic would say he should be even better in Washington this year, if he can win the starting job.

QB Competition

The quarterback position was basically a disaster for Washington last season. Alex Smith and Dwayne Haskins got the majority of playing time, but neither of them were particularly good and both threw more interceptions than they did touchdowns. The unimpressive performances resulted in both of them being released, leaving Kyle Allen and Taylor Heinicke as the other two remaining quarterbacks on the roster. Allen appears to be nothing more than a backup, while Heinicke is the big unknown in this equation. He has very little experience in his NFL career but he did start a playoff game last year where his dual threat talent was on display against a very tough Tampa Bay Bucs defense.

Heinicke and Fitzpatrick will both be fighting for the starting quarterback job this offseason. Though Heinicke is younger and more athletic, he does not have anything that compares to the proven leadership and ability to win that Fitzpatrick has. With Washington being a team that is looking to get back to the playoffs this year, and hopes of advancing even further than they did last year, Fitzpatrick has a clear edge to beat out Heinicke for the job as long he looks himself in camp, because they have a much better idea of what they are getting with the veteran.

It appears to be his job to lose, and Heinicke would have to do something really special in camp to take it from him. While that is still a possibility, it’s unlikely that Washington would have signed Fitzpatrick in the first place if they didn’t believe he would come in and win the job. He has said he wants to be on a team where he can be the starter, and it looks like he may have found that in Washington.

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