Keidel: Jets Fans' Contempt For Fitzpatrick Doesn't Make Sense
By Jason Keidel
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This glorified staring contest between the Jets and Ryan Fitzpatrick has reached absurd, if not toxic, levels.
The Jets cry cap poverty, then make it rain on Muhammad Wilkerson: $86 million, $53 million guaranteed and a $15 million signing bonus. It makes Mo's deal richer than the one signed by J.J. Watt -- widely considered the best defensive player in the league -- according to NFL.com.
Whatever the salary cap alchemy that allowed the cash-strapped Jets to carve out that epic deal for Wilkerson, they now have to squeeze out a few quid for their quarterback.
Who cares how you view Fitzpatrick? Whether he played over his head, whether he's an embellished bridge to one of their three neophyte quarterbacks -- Geno Smith, Bryce Petty or Christian Hackenberg -- or an old man on his last legs, there's no denying his production in 2015, or the notion that he should be even better in 2016.
The Jets are not built for a few years, or even next year. This is the time for the team to cash in. While their defense boasts young beasts, their vital skill players on offense are close to or on the wrong side of 30.
Brandon Marshall is 32. Matt Forte turns 31 this season. And the pup of the group, Eric Decker, is 29. Fitzpatrick turns 34 in November, which is essentially middle-age for quarterbacks, and not nearly the concern you have with Forte or Marshall, who could easily lose their physical edge at any moment.
Smith would be an abject failure, a de facto white flag for a team that otherwise is loaded and ready to run well into January.
Maybe Fitzpatrick had the best season of his career. But how is that bad news? Myriad quarterbacks have blossomed either at or after their physical peaks. Kurt Warner. Jim Plunkett. Craig Morton led the Broncos to the Super Bowl at 34.
Sure, it's a reach to compare Fitzpatrick with Warner or Plunkett, each of whom went to several Super Bowls, with Plunkett winning both of his trips. Warner's journey from bagging groceries to bagging NFL MVP awards was unprecedented and still unequaled.
But the fact that Fitzpatrick waited until he turned 33 to have a breakout year should be embraced, not lamented. He's not Tim Tebow, who rode some religious wave into cultural phenomena, the football iteration of Linsanity. Once you got past Tebow's kindness and absurd good looks, you winced at his mechanics.
Fitzpatrick should not only grow into his role as Jets QB, but he also has a shorthand with Decker and Marshall -- who is worried now that Fitzpatrick won't return his texts. How can you possibly predict a season from Smith that vaguely resembles the numbers Fitzpatrick posted last season?
You think Smith will break the club record for touchdowns? You think he will be so simpatico with Marshall and Decker? If you polled the players, whom do you think they'd rather see under center this fall?
Age and wage are in Smith's favor. And that's it. There's nothing in Smith's fledgling career that suggests he will lead the Jets to 8-8, much less 10-6 and 30 minutes from a playoff berth.
At the risk of redundancy, it's hard to fathom the public's contempt for Fitzpatrick, or any player, who wants fair market value.
Browse message boards and blogs and you'd think Fitzpatrick is Julius Rosenberg, a treasonous punk who has no gratitude for the great fortune of playing quarterback for the New York Jets. Despite the fact that they haven't had a franchise QB since Joe Namath, and haven't sniffed a Super Bowl since man landed on the moon, Gang Green fans are oddly venomous toward the Harvard man.
For whatever reason, it's cool for billionaire owners to bank more billions. Yet when a player has the gall to ask for an extra $5 or $10 million -- more than reasonable in Fitzpatrick's case, considering the quid paid to underachievers like Sam Bradford and unknowns like Brock Osweiler -- he's the emblem of the pampered, new-world athlete who is blinded by the almighty dollar.
Give the man $30 million for three years, and cut him after two years. Make half of it guaranteed. Everyone wins. If you say they can't afford it, just ask Wilkerson about that.
If you really think Smith is the answer under center, then you'll get what you deserve -- another lost year for a forlorn franchise, still looking for a quarterback, when the one they need is right under its nose.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel