Ryan Fitzpatrick is now on his ninth NFL team, signing a one-year, $10 million deal with Washington this week.
While the quarterback chose the Football Team in part because it’s giving him a chance to start, Fitzpatrick said Washington wasn’t his only option.
“It was interesting that in Year 17, this was the most sought after I had been in my whole career with all this free agency stuff,” Fitzpatrick said in his introductory press conference on Thursday. “I think part of it was just the way it wen the last two years — the adversity that we fought through as as team, [what] we were able to do as a team to turn it around in Miami.”
Fitzpatrick didn’t want to specify which other teams called or how many there were. But when pressed, he did say he received interest from “more than three” clubs.
The QB also noted he thinks he’s playing some of the best football of his career as he heads into his 17th season. Fitzpatrick won some key games for the Dolphins in his two years with the club, helping the team improve from 5-11 in 2019 to 10-6 in 2020.
“I just feel like I’ve got a lot of great football ahead of me — which sounds crazy,” Fitzpatrick said. “Being 38 years old and figuring some things out about myself, I just love football. I love the competition, I love the camaraderie, I love working together as a team for a common goal. And those are just things that I don’t know where else I would find that.”
With a team that made it to the postseason last year, Fitzpatrick has as good of an opportunity as he’s ever had to start his first playoff game in 2021.