Jets

Jets’ Offer To Ryan Fitzpatrick Is A Three-Year, $24M Deal

May 31, 2016

Update:

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Jets’ offer to free agent QB Ryan Fitzpatrick can be worth $36 million by reaching incentives including in the agreement.

According to Rapoport, Fitzpatrick would receive $12 million in year one of the contract and over $15 million guaranteed.

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Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports that the Jets’ offer that has been on the table for free agent QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is a three-year, $24 million deal.

According to Robinson, the contract would pay Fitzpatrick $12 million in year one and an average salary of $6 million over the final two years.
Robinson mentions that this would be starter’s money in the first and then drop to an “elite backup” salary after that.
Brian Costello confirms the report and adds that the actually salary distribution is: $12 million (2016), $6 million (2017) and $6 million (2018).

Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post was first to report that the Jets have a three-year offer on the table for Fitzpatrick that would pay him $12 million in the first year of the contract. Shortly after Cannizzario’s report, Ian Rapoport added that that the offer has been on the table since March.

It appeared all along that the Jets were leaking the details of their offer to the media to apply public pressure to Fitzpatrick and get him to reconsider their standing offer. The fact that reports only mentioned $12 million in year one was also a clear sign that they were offering him much less in the final two years of the deal.

The Jets obviously have some leverage in this situation, considering that they’re the only team with a starting job available, and the only team currently offering him a contract. Even so, forcing a player who’s well respected to take a bad deal because a team has leverage can impact future negotiations with players.

In the end, the Jets could considering either improving their offer in the final two years or maybe including an option in year three.

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.