Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets and free agent QB Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s representatives have had an open line of communication over the past several weeks.
However, Mehta adds that the financial divide between the two parities is still quite significant.
On Tuesday at the NFL owners meeting, Jets HC Todd Bowles said that he’s hoping everything works out with Fitzpatrick, but they also have contingency options if they can’t come to some sort of agreement.
“You want everything to work out fine,” Bowles said. “But if it doesn’t, you want to have plans B, C and D in place as well.”
Bowles did say that there’s plenty of time for them to get a deal done.
“It’s a business. It takes time,” Bowles said. “It’s March. We’re not playing right now, so everybody has a right to be stubborn.”
While Bowles is right there is time, Mehta thinks it would be absurd for them to not address the quarterback position by the start of May when teams begin to prepare for the start of OTAs.
Fitzpatrick has spoken with the Broncos, who are also in the market for a new quarterback, but they too believe his asking price is just too high for them.
Fitzpatrick, 32, played out the final year of his two-year, $7.5 million contract that included $4 million guaranteed and is now in position to secure a sizable raise in the coming days as one of the best quarterbacks 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.
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