Quarterbacks are moving, but the New York Jets aren’t getting anywhere with Ryan Fitzpatrick towards a new contract. Being unable to sign a deal with him might end up pushing him to another team, possibly the Los Angeles Rams or the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos are in something of a bind. They’ve lost three meaningful players on the first day of free agency, including Brock Osweiler, who didn’t like losing the starting job just before the playoffs and the money he was offered by the Broncos. He chose to sign a four-year, $72 million deal with the Houston Texans. This doesn’t just impact the Broncos quarterback search, but also the kind of money the Jets and Fitzpatrick might end up settling for.
Fitzpatrick played for $3.25 million last season, obviously underpaid considering what he gave the Jets (31 touchdowns, 3905 yards) in a career season for him, although he did mess up on the final, playoff clinching game of the season. Osweiler is getting paid $18 million a season, something the Jets won’t go near. Sam Bradford will be getting $11 million a season from the Eagles, but that might be a bit high for the Jets, who don’t have a lot of cap space to work with. Even Chase Daniel, a career backup, signed with the Eagles for $7 million a season.
Now that the Broncos need a quarterback, a lot of names have been thrown around, with Colin Kaepernick being the most popular one. The Rams are going with Nick Foles and Case Keenum as the two guys entering camp to compete for the starting job, but one can’t help but wonder if this isn’t an opportunity for them to at least give themselves someone a bit more experienced, consistent (in the last two years) and proven with Fitzpatrick and the Jets being unable to find the right numbers.
The Broncos are the wild card here because it seems like they’ve been the ones caught off guard. If someone would have wanted to offer Fitzpatrick something the Jets are still refusing to give him, they probably would have done that by now.