By Jordan Long
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their new backup quarterback to Jameis Winston. They agreed to a deal with Ryan Fitzpatrick for one-year and $3 million but it can be more with incentives.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed to add a veteran quarterback. The other quarterbacks on the team are Ryan Griffin and Sefo Liufau.. Griffin is in his 4th year in the NFL but has never seen game action. Liufau is a rookie who the Buccaneers signed as an undrafted free agent.
Fitzpatrick wasn’t the top quarterback left in free agency. The Buccaneers could have signed Colin Kaepernick or Robert Griffin III. Both of those quarterbacks can run the style of offense that the Buccaneers use. They decided to go with Fitzpatrick, who is more of a shotgun, 5-step drop-back quarterback.
Fitzpatrick enters his 13th NFL season and the Buccaneers are his 7th team. He previously suited up for the St. Louis Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, and the New York Jets. His best year was in 2015 when he passed for 3,905 yards and 31 touchdowns in a Jets uniform. That season he was able to protect the football with 15 interceptions. Last season was one to forget. He tossed for 2,710 yards and 12 touchdowns but Fitzpatrick always seemed to kill a Jets drive with an interception with a total of 17.
In his career Fitzpatrick has thrown for 25,888 yards and 166 touchdowns. He takes risks by throwing into double coverage and those have been picked off by the defense with a total of 133. The other problem with him is his ability to hold onto the football. Defenders can knock it out of his hand easily with a total of 42 fumbles which is far too many.
Fitzpatrick could help this team. He is able to find the open receivers. The only setback is that he can’t run the bootleg type of offense. If the Buccaneers are forced to use him, they are going to need to run a shotgun offense. Fitzpatrick won’t be under center like Winston. That might take away from their running the bootleg to open up the passing game. For the Buccaneers at least they have an experienced backup quarterback.
What do you think of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers adding Ryan Fitzpatrick?
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