We signed. Ryan Fitzpatrick 1 year 10 million.

Solitary Man

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With that kind of money for a 38 year old QB I am really wondering how much faith they have in Allen/Heinicke. We shall see.
 
I think the move to acquire Fitzpatrick speaks to the fact that this team actually likes Kyle Allen and Taylor Heinicke and wants to give them every opportunity to continue growing. In Fitzpatrick, you are bringing in a QB where when you say there is a QB competition going into camp and the job is there for the taking, it really is there for the taking. It's not like we are bringing in a Deshaun Watson and saying the guy who performs best in camp is going to be the guy who plays...we know how that usually pans out. If Heinicke and Allen prove themselves in training camp and preseason, they will give themselves a legitimate opportunity to be in the starter conversation for Week 1. The nice thing about Fitzpatrick is he gives you a safety net if the others fail to perform.

Also, in terms of the contract, if the deal really is for 1 year/10M and can potentially reach up to 12M, in the grand scheme of things that is peanuts if Fitzpatrick starts, makes your team competitive, and plays decent football.

The Saints gave Winston 12M yesterday to potentially back up Taysom Hill.
 
Have to come clean ... my first reaction was *facepalm* "the beard? seriously?"

But I think CH has thought it through well. I was meh on Trubisky, but thought hey, at least he's young and athletic and can make plays, and who knows ... yadda yadda. But the key there was young--which in this case = bad. You bring him in, it's not as a mentor or bridge, it's as the eye of the storm. He's the first question out of reporter's mouths from the moment he walks in the door to the moment he eventually walks out. Why did you give him ___ years in his contract? Why didn't you give him ____? When is it time to either extend him or not? Why did you start him coming off that bad game? Is he your starter next week? Will be the presumptive starter next year?

It would never stop.

With Fitz ... no drama. We all know why he's here. To start if he has to week-to-week in 2021. Then bye.

As of this morning, having slept on it, I think what it really says is we're drafting a QB in April if there's one there we kinda like, giving him a year to cook, and hopefully he can contend to start in 2022.

OR ... if there isn't a guy we like, we're winging it in 2021, with hopefully TH4 or K. Allen earning the job over the course of the year, and Fitz filling in where necessary, while we continue to build the roster and stay competitive to not lose momentum. And then we go into NEXT offseason hoping to either land a big fish FA, or draft the NEXT hopeful.

We didn't panic. We mitigated.

Not popping champagne corks, but not dulling the pain with rotgut, either.
 
Not necessarily advocating for this... but having a similar reaction as Om. It's not really WOOHOO, but it's not a disaster.


Another factor to this is that (stealing this from Collin Gutman on Twitter):



now I believe his numbers are off since he says $30+ but I don't think that's right.


PLAYER (9)POS.BASE SALARYSIGNING BONUSROSTER BONUSOPTION BONUSWORKOUT BONUSRESTRUC. BONUSMISC.DEAD CAPCAP HITCAP %
Alex SmithQB-$8,600,000------$8,600,0004.31
Dwayne HaskinsQB-$4,252,404------$4,252,4042.13
Derrius GuiceRB-$345,806------$345,8060.17
Ross PierschbacherG-$155,412------$155,4120.08
Shaun-Dion HamiltonILB-$38,252------$38,2520.02
Jordan BrailfordOLB-$37,288------$37,2880.02
Trey QuinnWR-$17,267------$17,2670.01
Johnathon JohnsonWR-$11,000------$11,0000.01
Steven MontezQB-$6,667------$6,6670.00
Dead Money:-$13,464,096------$13,464,0966.7


According to this we're carrying $13.4 mil total so when you add Fitz to that we're talking $23mil coming OFF the books for next offseason at the QB position. Throw Scherff into that the number jumps to $41 mil. Make a couple moves like moving on from Collins and Moses if you choose to do so and we're talking about upwards of $60 in cap space with minimal movement. The best I can tell, Rivera and company are not going to 'settle' for someone with long term commitment. If they're going to 'settle' it will be short term, high upside type production. If it works out, great... see Ronald Darby. If it doesn't, there's little pain... see Sean Davis.
 
I'm no huge Fitzpatrick fan, but he's clearly a stopgap/backup. This is not a make or break signing.
 
$12M is not a lot to pay a guy that has played better than many other starting qbs over the past 2-3 years.

Terry McLaurin and any other name WR you bring in is wasted with a check down quarterback like Smith or to a lesser extent Allen.

Heinicke is really the only other passer that is willing to be aggressive throwing the ball and that’s where this league is at.

It used to be a strong running game and a strong defense won titles.

Now with the example of the Bucs and others it’s a strong passing game and defense that wins. And on defense TURNOVERS are critical.

The days of Gregg Williams having a statistical top 5 defense but getting no picks or fumbles is over.
 
Here is why this signing really is making more sense to me.

First of all, I believe Heinecke will will the starting job, through competition.
He and Kyle have a history of getting knocked out of games.

Fitz has proven to be amazing in relief. The perfect bullpen guy.
There are not many that can do that. You can argue that Heinecke was also great in relief, but I believe Taylor's mobility and knowledge of the offense will win him the starting job. Plus when you play Fitz all season you have seen a great 5-6 games and then you have seen the turnovers really kick in.

So go with the younger guys, and if both are not available for whatever reason, you have a guy that can come in right away and light it up.
 
I think it’s the other way around.

Fitzpatrick wins the job and plays until he gets dinged or has a 3 interception game and then Taylor will come in and get his chance the next week.
 
I think the starter's job is his to lose - otherwise, why bring him in at all? Of course if he looks bad in camp and one of the others shines, all bets are off. But barring that, he'll be the starter. I'm impatient like everyone. But what I do like about this is that they didn't force things with a Trubisky, Darnold, Mariota, or *insert available young guy name here* just to have a supposed long-term guy under center. Either none of those guys really did it for them, or it was going to cost too much for a high risk proposition. So they opted to continue to build and buy time.

I agree with Om that the most likely scenario is that they move up a bit in the draft and take a QB or they think they're onto something with a QB not highly touted (like Trask, just as an example) who'll be there at 19. Also possible they are going to ride with what they have for a year and see if either Allen or Heinicke could be that guy. But that does beg the question, then why sign Fitzpatrick.

I don't hate it. Gonna be a fun season at worst :)
 
I saw that play live, it was one of the wildest plays I've ever seen
 
Price wise - I am OK with this. I would have rather invested the money in extending Jonathan Allen, but its not the worst thing I have ever seen.

Talent wise - he is a wild card. He isn't the kind of QB you go "look at the mechanics on that guy. this is who you want to model your QB after", but he pushes the ball deep down the field and can scramble with the best of them.

Mentor wise - I know he is a good guy, but has he ever been on any team long enough to really mentor someone? I don't really see him as a mentor.

Overall, the signing is "meh" to me. We'll see what happens, but I am not calling for anyone's head over it.
 
With Dak Prescott back on the field Washington needed to do more than throw a rookie or limited action player like Taylor out there from Day 1 and expect to contend in the division.

It was unlikely that in 2021 an offense like we had in 2020 with Alex Smith or Kyle Allen would be enough to win games.

If Taylor is a Kurt Warner type rags to riches story or Washington drafts it’s future in April then we can clear the decks in 2022 with no cap hits to take at QB while Fitzpatrick could comeback as a backup.
 
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live press conference

 
Definitely seems down to earth and relaxed about his career
 
I do often wonder why he never landed with a team.
 
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