Flitzpatrick seems to have found a home with Washington

The Washington Football Team was looking for a new quarterback this past March, and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was searching for a new home. So, Fitzpatrick signed a one-year deal worth $10 million that could grow to $12 million with incentives. An arranged marriage made to order.

Fitzpatrick is entering his 17th NFL season after being selected by the then St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He has 146 starts over 16 seasons with the Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins.

For the 2020 season with Miami, Fitzpatrick appeared in nine games and made seven starts. He completed 183-of-267 passes (68.5 pct.) for 2,091 yards and 13 touchdowns for a QB rating of 95.6. He also recorded 30 carries for 151 yards (5.0 avg.) and two touchdowns.

Now, Fitzpatrick is representing the burgundy and gold and working at building chemistry and timing with his receivers. It’s not easy peasy. It’s hard work that takes time and energy on the practice field. But Fitzpatrick is experienced. Head coach Ron Rivera has seen the work being done and is pleased with the progress.

"It is coming along well,” said Rivera. “The hard part for him is making sure he's getting the reps with everyone. So, we have to make sure we're rotating the groups properly so that when [WR] Cam Sims is in there, when one of the other tight ends is in there and one of the young receivers is in there, you know, like [WR] Dyami [Brown] that they're all kind of working together."

Fitzpatrick believes more time on task will bode well for the Football team.

“I feel really good with where we're at right now,” said Rivera. “Obviously, we just need to continue in the trend that we've been going with. It's been fun to get to know the guys. It's been fun to get to dive into this offense a little bit. Get some reps and figure out [Offensive Coordinator] Scott's [Turner]’s mind a little bit. Why we're doing what we're doing. It's definitely been a process for me and will continue to be a process, but getting out there in the preseason game, working on some of that communication with the guys upfront, I think we got everything we wanted out of last week. Hopefully that continues this week.”

A major piece to the Washington Football Team’s puzzle involves the quarterback play: can they get consistency from the position? It will require the quarterback and receiver being on the same page at all times. That remains to be seen.