Buffalo Bills Release Ryan Fitzpatrick
The Buffalo Bills have released veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick has played with the Bills for the last four seasons and has spent nearly every offseason fighting off rumors that he was going to be replaced.
With a new head coach at the helm in Doug Marrone, Fitzpatrick probably knew he was on the hotseat year again. When Bills GM Buddy Nix was tricked into saying that Fitzpatrick would be fighting for a backup slot, Fitzpatrick’s number was all but up.
The Buffalo Bills haven’t won more than six games in any of the years that their Ivy League graduate quarterback has played for them, but that hadn’t stopped them until now from being him back year after year.
Fitzpatrick certainly wasn’t the only reason that Buffalo has struggled to win games. The long shot to make a roster turned starting quarterback has had a pretty decent touchdown-to-interception ratio in his time as a starter including 24 touchdowns to just 16 interceptions a year ago.
Despite decent numbers, Fitzpatrick has seemingly always been looked at by the front office as a placeholder until the team can get a real difference maker.
Money appears to be the reason that the Bills released the Harvard grad in the end. Fitzpatrick was owed a $3 million roster bonus later this week. That was part of a six year extension for a total of $59 million that he and the team signed in 2011.
At the moment, that leaves the Bills with former Seattle Seahawk and Minnesota Viking Tarvaris Jackson as the only “proven” quarterback on the roster.
Jackson was once the heir apparent in Minnesota but his inconsistent play led to his eventual benching and release after the 2010 season.
In 2011, the Seattle Seahawks tried him as their starting quarterback but he threw just 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and was released after the season again. Jackson appeared in just one game for the Bills last season and didn’t amass any statistics.
Who will the Buffalo Bills get as their quarterback for next season now that Ryan Fitpatrick is gone? Perhaps Alex Tanney is still available.
