Contract Talks “Heating Up” Between Jets & Ryan Fitzpatrick, Two Sides Working To Get Deal Done

Update:

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media is now reporting that contract talks between the Jets and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick are “heating up” and the two sides are negotiating back-and-forth trying to get it done.

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Ian Rapoport on the NFL Network Wednesday mentioned that it feels like the Jets could make one last attempt to sign free agent QB Ryan Fitzpatrick before the start of training camp.

“Feels like Jets will make one-last run at Fitzpatrick, trying to sign him before practice starts tomorrow,” Rapoport said, per Gregg Rosenthal.

Interestingly enough, the Rams granted QB Nick Foles his release today, so it’s possible that the Jets could try to use his availability to boost their leverage in contract talks. Although, it’s hard to say if this would really help their case much.

Yesterday, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reported that the Jets have made multiple offers to Fitzpatrick with the hope of getting a deal done and allowing him to report for the start of training camp.

However, it appears as though none of these were appealing enough for Fitzpatrick.

Mehta mentions that the smart play for the Jets would be to offer more fully guaranteed money in a multi-year deal or extend him a one-year deal with $12-$14 million fully guaranteed.

Although, Mehta says that the Jets would likely prefer to keep him on a one-year, $8 million contract than offer him this much on a one-year pact.

Fitzpatrick, 32, played out the final year of his two-year, $7.5 million contract that included $4 million guaranteed and is currently the best quarterback still available in this year’s market.

In 2015, Fitzpatrick threw for 3,905 yards while completing 59.6 percent of his passes to go along with 31 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Pro Football Focus has Fitzpatrick rated as the No. 27 quarterback out of 37 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Best Available Free Agents list.