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Williamson: Why the Jets should move on from Ryan Fitzpatrick

Leon Halip / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."

Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets are at an impasse. You would think by now that both parties would realize that Fitzpatrick returning to New York to lead Chan Gailey's offense is the best thing for team and player. However, either Fitzpatrick has an inflated opinion of his worth, or the Jets have a number in mind that they just aren't going to exceed.

With all due respect to the importance of the quarterback position, I side with the Jets on this matter. In fact, maybe it's time that they move on.

The rest of the league apparently agrees that Fitzpatrick thinks he's worth more than he truly is, since we have yet to hear a report of one of the other 31 teams offering him a contract, or him being close to signing.

New York is tight against the cap, although the swapping of Ryan Clady's contract for D'Brickashaw Ferguson's might help that slightly. Ferguson's retirement cleared slightly more than $9 million in cap space before Clady was acquired.

To me, Fitzpatrick is a $10 million per year quarterback. And as you'll read below, that might be too generous. They should offer him a two-year, $20-million deal and then haggle over the guaranteed money. That's what a well below average starting quarterback is worth, and the Jets do have other options.

Scouting Report

Fitzpatrick is coming off his best season as a professional, but his fantasy football numbers and stats are more impressive than what the tape shows. And let's just say that Gailey, Eric Decker, and Brandon Marshall were all extremely helpful to Fitzpatrick's "success."

Because of where Fitzpatrick went to college, many assume his off-the-field brilliance translates directly to his play on the field. For the majority of his career, that simply hasn't been the case.

Fitzpatrick plays quarterback with a Brett Favre-like aggression. But he doesn’t have Favre-like abilities. His head too often writes checks that his arm can't cash, and that results in interceptions in the NFL. We saw this in a big way in Week 17, a game that, if they won, would have put the Jets in the playoffs. Fitzpatrick will turn 34 years old during the season, and this old dog most likely will not be learning a lot of new tricks.

Gailey did somewhat reel Fitzpatrick in. The Jets' offense spreads the field horizontally with more four-wide receiver sets than any team in the league, and the play designs got the ball out of Fitzpatrick's hands quickly. And, as stated above, he threw to one of the best wide receiver tandems in the NFL last year. Marshall and Decker combined for 26 of Fitzpatrick's 31 touchdown passes, which is rather amazing, and says an awful lot.

Fitzpatrick's arm strength is average, but his accuracy is well below average. That's why throwing to big targets that can adjust to the ball as well as Marshall and Decker can was crucial in his results. As already mentioned, Fitzpatrick isn't a great decision-maker, and was fortunate that he didn't have far more interceptions. He earned many more than the 15 that were actually picked off. Fitzpatrick also doesn't throw with great anticipation. That doesn't leave much.

Other Options

The Jets originally acquired Fitzpatrick to be Geno Smith’s backup, and, if you recall, Smith won the starting job in training camp.

Many have joked that IK Enemkpali was the Jets' MVP in 2015 for breaking Smith's jaw and forcing Fitzpatrick into action, but the coaching staff that spent every day with Smith and Fitzpatrick and watched every second of tape decided that Smith was the best option to win.

Smith's game needs an awful lot of work, but he has more ability than Fitzpatrick and far more upside. Also, Gailey has had great success with quarterbacks of similar skill sets to Smith's.

New York also drafted Bryce Petty in the fourth round last year. Petty is an extreme work in progress and has to be reinvented for the NFL game after playing in Baylor's spread system. But Petty is a good passer of the football, and Gailey's system should make his adjustment quicker than it would be with most NFL teams. Less than a year ago, the Jets and Gailey saw something in Petty that they felt they could work with.

The Jets could also explore a trade for someone like Josh McCown, Mike Glennon, or Colin Kaepernick, who has yet to become the property of the Denver Broncos. McCown would give the Jets the best chance to win of any quarterback mentioned in this article, and that includes Fitzpatrick.

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