Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Plenty left in the tank
Fitzpatrick discusses why he and his beard picked Miami
New Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick believes he still has plenty left in the tank after a 14-year NFL career.
He wants to compete for the Dolphins’ starting quarterback job.
And he plans to continue sporting his glorious beard in South Florida.
Fitzpatrick, 36, said Tuesday the opportunity to be an NFL starter at this stage in his career was the most appealing option for him to join the Dolphins organization as a free agent on Sunday.
“I’ve been in pretty much every situation you could imagine over my career,” Fitzpatrick said during a conference call.
“The way that I view this is there are 32 of these starting gigs in the NFL, and this is one of them. The opportunity to be one of those 32 guys is an amazing privilege and an honor. When they approached me about signing on, I was so excited for the chance to sign and play.”
“I’m very excited for the opportunity.” Fitzpatrick will join inexperienced quarterbacks Luke Falk and Jake Rudock on the Dolphins roster as Miami continues an extensive rebuilding effort, with hopes to land a future franchise quarterback in the 2019 or 2020 NFL drafts.
The Dolphins traded away former starter Ryan Tannehill, who had a 42-46 record as Miami’s starter in six of seven seasons, to the Tennessee Titans on Friday.
“I’m going into this thing and I’m going to come in Day 1 and act like and be the starting quarterback for this organization until they tell me I’m not,” Fitzpatrick said. “Nothing is promised in the NFL, and I’m just going to keep my head down and go to work.”
Fitzpatrick was the third known free-agent quarterback to receive interest from Miami this offseason.
Miami native Teddy Bridgewater decided to remain as Drew Brees’ backup with the New Orleans Saints, while Tyrod Taylor chose to be Phillip Rivers’ backup with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Both were offered similar contract deals to the one signed by Fitzpatrick, who accepted Miami’s two-year, $11 million deal that could boost to between $17 million and $20 million with incentives, according to ESPN.
“The Dolphins had expressed interest, and I’ve had some other calls for some other teams and all of them had guys that were penciled in as starters,” Fitzpatrick said. “Even though financially there were some similarities, I looked at this as a chance to play, and that’s why I got excited about it.”
Fitzpatrick, who has earned $58 million throughout his career, has started 126 games since joining the NFL as a seventh-round pick by the former St. Louis Rams in 2005.
Fitzpatrick spent two seasons with the Rams.
He has played two seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2007-08, four with the Buffalo Bills from 2009-2012, spent a season with the Titans in 2013 and one with the Houston Texans in 2014, and was the New York Jets starter for 2015-16.
He has spent the past two seasons as Jameis Winston’s backup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but experienced his best season last year.
Fitzpatrick had a careerbest 100.4 passer rating in 2018, completing 66.7 percent of his passes, throwing for 2,366 yards with 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in eight games with seven starts.
“For having a 14-year career and as many games as I’ve played in, physically I feel probably as good as I could have ever hoped for or imagined,” Fitzpatrick said.
“The last two years really energized me — getting out there on the field and being able to play. … I feel like I’m playing really good football right now. Over the last four or five years, I think I’ve taken the next step and hope to continue to improve as we get going.”
The Dolphins will be Fitzpatrick’s third AFC East team and eighth NFL team overall during his career.
And the beard that has become sort of a trademark to his aura will remain with him in Miami.
“I’ve done it in Houston and I’ve done it in Tampa. It started in Buffalo because of the cold,” Fitzpatrick said regarding the South Florida weather.
“But it’s become such a part of who I am. It will definitely be in full effect.”