The Miami Dolphins are bringing in a magician to help them tank without necessarily looking like they’re tanking. As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Miami is signing Ryan Fitzpatrick to a two-year deal.
Miami is giving its new quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick a two-year, $11 million deal with incentives that could boost it to between $17 and $20 million, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 17, 2019
What it means: Fitzpatrick, a longtime journeyman with 126 starts under his belt, provides the perfect cover for Miami to have a bad season while still entertaining the masses.
- “FitzMagic” provides any offense he’s leading with opportunities to produce amazing plays downfield (like this).
- He is also a passionate leader who energizes his teammates, and the home crowd.
- Fitzpatrick has a fatal flaw, however, in that he is a veritable turnover machine. He once led the league when he started all 16 games in Buffalo, tossing 23 interceptions (2011). The past three seasons, he’s thrown 32 interceptions in 28 games.
- Due to his proclivity to let the opposing team get extra possessions, Fitzpatrick has a career record of 50-75-1 as a starter, and has won just seven games in his last 21 starts.
So, fans will be treated to quite a wide array of ups and downs. But in the end, Miami will not win many games barring a shocking turn of events.
Why this is important: The Dolphins have long been reported as having a mind to purposefully tank this coming season with an end game of landing Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Now that Fitzpatrick is the de facto starter for 2019, the Dolphins can chill in tank mode without putting an unwatchable product on the field.
It’s a win-win for the organization, and its fans. Assuming, of course, that Fitzpatrick doesn’t have a career year and set the entire process back a season or two.
If that does happen, though, there’s always Trevor Lawrence in 2021.