While Ryan Fitzpatrick and the New York Jets remain embroiled in a contract standoff, his two top receivers from last year are doing everything they can to get him to come back into the fold. Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker sent Fitzpatrick a video message from team facilities on the first day back for offseason workouts on Monday, per the Wall Street Journal.
“I love Fitzpatrick,” Decker said of the video. “Would love to get to work with him if he is going to be the quarterback of this team.
“Brandon and I today were joking around,” Decker said. “We were watching tape of last year, scouting ourselves throughout this phase and just kind of talking about what we can do better. What we can correct. [We] were kind of just messing with him. Sent out a video saying we need to work on these things. Intriguing him to come back, obviously.”
It’s not surprising in the least that Marshall and Decker would want Fitzpatrick back. They both had huge seasons last year playing with the Harvard grad, combining to catch 189 passes for 2,529 yards with 26 touchdowns.
Marshall has been outspoken on a number of occasions about his desire to see Fitzmagic come back for the 2016 season, even going so far as to tape a hilarious video bear Instagram message directed at the Jets to re-sign the quarterback (watch here).
Unfortunately for the two receivers, the Jets appear content to move on.
The franchise is reportedly hosting Brian Hoyer on Tuesday after he was released from the Houston Texans. He’d likely be significantly cheaper than Fitzpatrick, but it remains to be seen if he could produce like the bearded one did in 2015 playing with his top receivers.