This 5 month saga has ended just before the beginning of training camp, but will there be any long term effects of how the management of the Jets toyed with their starting leader off the field?
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Finally, the contract drama between the New York Jets and main quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is over as both sides agreed Wednesday to a one-year deal which is worth $12 million. “We’ve got a plan…so we’ll get an equal look at all of them”.
“It definitely was a long process”. But it was hard with people coming up to me and asking about the contract, people texting me. For five or six months it was like a dark cloud hovering over him. The return of Fitzpatrick will send Smith back to the bench and could signal the beginning of the end for his time in NY. To the Jets fans who were surprised, I ask you one simple question, Why? I wanted to be there for my guys, I didn’t want to miss anything, so finally I got the go ahead. “Nothing’s ever really been handed to me, so I just go out and try to prove it every year”.
With Fitzpatrick back on the roster, the Jets’ backup quarterbacks include Smith, rookie second-round draft pick Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty. He was close to making the postseason slump previous year, but a season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills prevented it.
Marshall, who enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career in tandem with Fitzpatrick, has been vocal in his support of Fitzpatrick and appeared to express his happiness with the agreement on Wednesday night.
Geno Smith expressed his frustrations with the recent Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets contract.
The Jets certainly wouldn’t mind a repeat of Fitzpatrick’s statistical performance from last season, when he set the franchise record with 31 touchdown passes and helped lead NY within a victory of the playoffs. Long criticized as an inaccurate passer susceptible to the turnover, Fitzpatrick threw just 15 interceptions a year ago.
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“I’ve improved as a quarterback and I believe in the guys around me”, he said. Fitzpatrick spoke to the New York Daily News the morning after the deal, and said it was a “relief to have it over and done with”. If New York wants to have a good campaign this upcoming season, inking a deal with Fitzpatrick was a good first step. “That’s all I wanted”.
