Ryan Fitzpatrick Reacts To Being Benched For Tua

Ryan Fitzpatrick's run as the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback came to an end Tuesday as the team decided to name first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa the new starter heading into the November 1 home game against the Rams. Fitzpatrick said the news was a "shock" and said his heart hurt over the decision.

"My heart just hurt all day," Fitzpatrick said. "It was heartbreaking for me. Flo said what he said, and said what he said to you guys as well, and that's the decision and direction the organization is going in. Obviously, we've talked in the past about how, I'm the placeholder, and this eventually was going to happen. It was just a matter of when, not if. It still just broke my heart yesterday, and it's a tough thing for me to hear and to know have to deal with. And I'm going to do my best with it."

The 37-year-old quarterback was 8-11 as starter for the Dolphins, his eighth stop during an NFL career that began in St. Louis. It's very possible the Dolphins pulled the trigger now even though the team started to show life with Fitzpatrick at the helm during two blowout wins over the 49ers and Jets. The last thing Miami wanted to happen was for Fitzmagic to go on a run and prevent them to get a look at their investment.

"I basically got fired yesterday, and today my day consisted of Zoom meetings with the guy that fired me and sitting in a room with the guy who replaced me for four hours," he said. "Is this it? Was that my last game in the NFL, being a starter?"

For Fitzpatrick, who has somehow scraped together $71,000,000 in earnings, this could be the end of the road. He has a career record of 58-86-1.