Fitzpatrick has COVID-19, won’t travel with team
Dolphins backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the league’s website. He is out for Sunday’s game.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick won’t be in the Dolphins’ bullpen, ready to relieve rookie Tua Tagovailoa, if the Dolphins need the veteran quarterback on Sunday at Buffalo.
Fitzpatrick has tested positive for COVID-19 and is out for Sunday’s game, multiple Dolphins players said Thursday. Fitzpatrick practiced on Wednesday but did not practice on Thursday.
By NFL rule, he must isolate for at least 10 days, meaning he couldn’t play if the Dolphins have a playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 9— unless the Dolphins find a loophole. He might be able to play if the Dolphins have a playoff game on Sunday, Jan. 10 if he has cleared NFL protocol by then.
But the Dolphins allowed every other player to practice on Thursday — except injured linebacker Elandon Roberts — because they do not believe any other player was close enough to Fitzpatrick to be deemed a “close contact.” The NFL
requires COVID “close contacts” also be placed on the COVID-19 list.
The Dolphins signed veteran quarterback Jake Rudock to their 53-man roster to serve as their backup quarterback on Sunday.
Rudock participated in training camp this season and began the regular season on the Dolphins’ practice squad before he was released and replaced by rookie Reid Sinnett on Sept. 14. Since then, Rudock has been summoned to team headquarters three times to begin a series of COVID tests. He finally signed with Miami on the third of those visits.
Rudock began his visit with the Dolphins earlier this week before the team knew that Fitzpatrick had COVID. Rudock has thrown five passes, completing three, for 24 yards in his NFL career. All of those pass attempts came during the 2017 season with Detroit.
The Dolphins felt more comfortable with Rudock backing up Tagovailoa than having Sinnett in that role.
Tight end Durham Smythe said having Rudock as the backup is helpful because “he picks up things really fast. He always has been that way with my experience the past two years. He’s a guy that’s stayed ready and obviously we have a lot of confidence in him to pick things up on a short term notice.”
Dolphins safety Eric Rowe said losing Fitzpatrick is a blow. He said coach Brian Flores informed the team Thursday morning in a Zoom meeting.
“It hurts,” Rowe said. “He’s a leader of our team. He brings energy. I’m sure it’s worse for him because he loves the game and nobody wants to catch COVID. With that, you have to push forward. My reaction was praying for his health. That’s a real deal thing. Just praying he doesn’t have the symptoms and didn’t spread it to his family.”
Receiver Isaiah Ford said of the Fitzpatrick news: “He’s our guy. If this year taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. We all love Ryan but we have a job to do and we’re all focused getting that done.”
Fitzpatrick ended his second Dolphins season with the second-highest passer rating in his 16-year career (95.6), with 13 touchdowns, eight interceptions and 2,091 passing yards in nine games, including seven starts. He will be an unrestricted free agent in March and hasn’t said if he wants to continue playing.
With Fitzpatrick unavailable, that means Tagovailoa will not be at risk of being benched on Sunday — something that has happened to him in two of the past five games.
Fitzpatrick came off the bench to lead the Dolphins to a 26-25 win in Las Vegas last Saturday.
The Dolphins are Bills are playing something of a cat-and-mouse game this week. The Dolphins declined to quickly announce that Fitzpatrick was going on the COVID-19 list — something required by the league after several hours — because they did not want to alert the Bills. In fact, Rowe was the first Dolphins employee to publicly confirm Fitzpatrick’s COVID test when asked by a reporter during a team interview session Thursday.
And unlike Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, Bills coach Sean McDermott declined to say if he will rest any starters in Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.
Tomlin intends to rest quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and others against Cleveland.
The Bills are competing with Pittsburgh for the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs — behind Kansas City — but unlike past years, the No. 2 team won’t get a first-round bye, with the playoff field expanded to seven teams in each conference.
So what’s essentially at stake is home-field advantage in a potential BillsSteelers AFC semifinal playoff matchup.
Tagovailoa on Sunday is expected to be without one receiver (Jakeem Grant) and isn’t certain if he will have DeVante Parker, either. Parker, who has missed the past two games, remained limited in practice on Thursday because of a hamstring injury.
Grant is expected to miss the game with an ankle injury, but he was able to participate in practice on a limited basis on Thursday.
The Dolphins promoted rookie receiver Kirk Merritt from the practice squad as a COVID replacement, giving them five healthy receivers on Sunday (Mack Hollins, Lynn Bowden, Ford, Malcolm Perry, Merritt) if Parker cannot play.
Guard Solomon Kindley (foot), linebacker Shaq Lawson (shoulder) and Bobby McCain (ankle) also were limited in practice on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Roberts went on injured reserve with his season-ending knee injury.
To make the playoffs, the Dolphins need either a win in Buffalo or a loss by either Baltimore (against Cincinnati), Cleveland (against Pittsburgh) or Indianapolis (against Jacksonville).