Maccagnan relieved to have Fitzpatrick signed

New York Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan said he gave himself a night to celebrate after quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick signed a contract with the team on the eve of training camp.

Mike Maccagnan allowed himself to celebrate for a moment once he knew that Ryan Fitzpatrick was coming back to the New York Jets. The two sides ended a months-long contract stalemate by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $12 million deal Wednesday night. It became official when the quarterback signed all the paper work the next day, shortly before the Jets’ first training camp practice kicked off.

“For a night, I felt a big sigh of relief,” said Maccagnan, entering his second season as general manager. “And then, it was back to work.” While speaking to reporters Friday for the first time since the NFL draft, Maccagnan wouldn’t disclose details of the negotiations between the Jets and Fitzpatrick. The GM also wouldn’t address comments by Fitzpatrick, who was unhappy with the team’s initial three-year offer that lacked guaranteed money beyond the first year. “Hey, the deal is done,” Maccagnan said. “We’re very happy with it. We’re happy to have Fitz back. I just want to go forward with this whole thing and get the team ready to go and play.” Getting to this point, though, rested in large part on the outcome of Fitzpatrick’s contract situation. With that out of the way — finally — Maccagnan and the rest of the organization can focus again on just football.

However, there’s one thing the GM might do differently if ever faced with a similar situation in the future.

“Probably, I think going forward, I’m going to get all these things resolved before I go on vacation,” said a smiling Maccagnan, whose recent European trip was spent in part checking emails and texts.

Two weeks ago, Maccagnan took care of the other contract situation hanging over the organization when the Jets signed defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson to a five-year extension worth $86 million.

It appeared Wilkerson would have to play this season under the franchise tag amount of $15.7 million as the deadline of July 15 to reach a long-term deal approached. Wilkerson would have possibly sat out of training camp and an already uncomfortable situation could have become testy. Instead, the Jets and Wilkerson came to an agreement on a contract just minutes before the deadline.

“That was just one where it took us a while to get to that point,” Maccagnan said.

He added that Wilkerson’s big deal “doesn’t preclude us” from being able to get a new contract done with defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson, who is signed through next season but could demand huge bucks with a solid season.

The Jets are coming off a 10-6 season in which they fell a victory short of making the playoffs. They have what many regard as a tough schedule to open this season, with games against Cincinnati, Buffalo, Kansas City, Seattle, Pittsburgh and Arizona.