Ryan Fitzpatrick has been engaged in a months-long contract standoff with his former employer, the New York Jets. This standoff has seen multiple Jets support Fitz in the media, but it has also seen the Jets draft a quarterback (Christian Hackenberg) in the second round.
For a while, the assumption has been that Fitzpatrick has yet to bite on whatever deal the Jets floated his way because it was a "lowball" offer (i.e. the Jets wanted to pay him like 2015 was an outlier and Fitzpatrick wanted to be paid as if 2015 was his new baseline expectation). That's not the case, according to a report from the New York Post's Mark Cannizzaro.
Contrary to reports of low-ball #Jets offer to #Fitz, #NFL sources tell The Post offer on table is 3-yr w/ $12 million for first year ...
— NYPost_Cannizzaro (@MarkCannizzaro) May 27, 2016
If this #Jets offer per sources is true, makes you wonder what Fitz + his agent are waiting for. Am told offer has sat on table for 4 mnths
— NYPost_Cannizzaro (@MarkCannizzaro) May 27, 2016
This does not make Fitz and agent Jimmy Sexton look very smart based on fact that no one else is offering him similar $$ or starting job
— NYPost_Cannizzaro (@MarkCannizzaro) May 27, 2016
Considering Fitzpatrick's age (34 in November) and his career 33-55-1 record, 60.2 completion percentage, 6.6 yards per attempt, and meager 123-to-101 touchdown-to-interception ratio prior to his extraordinarily out-of-character season with New York in 2015, he and his agent should be thanking their lucky stars that a $12 million first-year salary was offered.
A $12 million salary in Year 1 is nothing to sneeze at. For a career journeyman like Fitzpatrick that is almost definitely not the "answer" at QB for the Jets, it's probably way too much, especially when you consider the fact that the Jets are apparently tacking additional years onto the contract.
We don't know how much of that $12 million would be in the form of base salary and how much would be a signing bonus, but we can head over to Spotrac and compare $12 million as a base salary and cap hit to other QBs around the league. If $12 million were Fitz's base salary in 2016, that would be the 13th-highest figure for any quarterback in the NFL. It's higher than that of Aaron Rodgers, Andy Dalton, Tony Romo, and Carson Palmer, among others. A $12 million cap hit would rank 20th among QBs, comparable to Brock Osweiler, Ryan Tannehill, and Sam Bradford.
Either way, it seems far too rich for a QB with Fitzpatrick's track record and skill set.
