Nick Geddes
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Ryan Fitzpatrick, also known as “FitzMagic,” is calling it a career after 17 seasons in the NFL.
The 39-year-old quarterback sent a text to former teammates Thursday to announce his retirement, with former Bills running back Fred Jackson sharing a copy of the creative message.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Fitzpatrick is in deep talks to become an analyst on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football coverage. He would join a studio team which is expected to include Marshawn Lynch, Tony Gonzalez and Richard Sherman. Amazon previously hired Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit to be their game broadcasters.
A fan favorite off the field and known for his prolific beard, Fitzpatrick’s career was a resounding success, coming in as a seventh-round pick out of Harvard. Fitzpatrick was an on and off starter over the course of his career, spending time with the Rams (2005-06), Bengals (2007-08), Bills (2009-12), Titans (2013), Texans (2014), Jets (2015-16), Buccaneers (2017-18), Dolphins (2019-20), and Washington (2021). He started games for all nine teams, a NFL record among quarterbacks.
Most will remember the 2015 season with New York, where Fitzpatrick guided the Jets to a 10-6 record, narrowly missing out on the playoffs. That season saw Fitzpatrick have a career high for a single season with 3,905 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Of course, who could forget the 2018 season, where he became “FitzMagic” after THAT press conference. After dicing up the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles in Week 2 to the tune of 402 yards and four touchdowns, Fitzpatrick was the coolest guy in the room during the postgame press conference.
“The chest hair is mine,” Fitzpatrick said, as he showed up wearing teammate DeSean Jackson’s clothes and bling.
He’ll finish his career with 34,990 passing yards, which ranks 32nd all-time and ranked eighth among active quarterbacks. His 223 career touchdown passes rank T-36 all-time alongside the Vikings’ Kirk Cousins.
Never won a thing
True, but that was the key to his longevity. He was *just* good enough to convince so many teams to hire him as a backup QB. If he had started more games, likely he would have washed out of the league sooner.
Dan Marino never really won anything either … but he was still an awesome quarterback. FitzMagic was just that — magic. Not too many guys bounce around the league like he did, and he had his successes to boot …
Good points guys and agree thanks
My son played for Penn and played against Fitzpatrick when he was at Harvard. Man, that seems so long ago. Hard to believe he’s just retiring. Hats off to him for his longevity in the pros.