Ryan Fitzpatrick should take the money and run back home.
It turns out this isn’t a lowball offer after all from the Jets — one year, $12 million guaranteed, $36 million over three years with incentives. It is considerably higher than the $8 million ballpark figure league executives guessed would be on the table when this impasse between club and quarterback began.
The Jets’ offer, learned of by The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro, is no insult that would force Fitzpatrick to slink back with his tail between his legs. It is a fair offer that gives Fitzpatrick standing as the leader of a team crying out for his leadership.
Now, Fitzpatrick had a career year, a better year than Brock Osweiler, who was awarded $18 million per year by the desperate Texans after rejecting Broncos general manager John Elway’s $16 million offer.
But that’s the way it works in the NFL: Quarterbacks viewed as young franchise quarterbacks are more in demand than 33-year-old journeymen bridge quarterbacks.
Is it fair Colin Kaepernick is a $19 million man and Ryan Tannehill is a $19.25 million man? Of course it isn’t. But they were deemed franchise quarterbacks of the future. If Fitzpatrick has any reason to quarrel, it is this, and only this: He does not deserve less than Nick Foles ($12.27 million man). That can be resolved easily enough now.
The Jets have come to grips with the reality they are a win-now team without a quarterback who can win now besides Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick should come to grips with the fact the Jets have been bidding against themselves, with him being the last quarterback standing in the game of NFL musical chairs.
If Fitzpatrick, who fits perfectly in Chan Gailey’s offense, can lead the Jets to his first playoff appearance, there is a more-than-reasonable chance he can be the bridge quarterback through the 2017 season as well, if for no other reason than No. 2 draft pick Christian Hackenberg will be a major project and can watch how a professional goes about his business under Fitzpatrick. Chad Pennington served an invaluable apprenticeship in 2000 and 2001 behind Vinny Testaverde.
The Jets can play down Fitzpatrick’s absence from OTAs all they want, but they seem to recognize any continued standoff with a quarterback beloved by his teammates is risky business and downright foolhardy. It sends the worst kind of message to the locker room about the organization’s commitment to winning. It is a message Eric Decker, for one, apparently has received already.
Fitzpatrick was in the catbird’s seat in October 2011, when the Bills signed him to a six-year, $59 million deal with $24 million guaranteed.
“He’ll be our quarterback for a long time,” Buffalo GM Buddy Nix said at the time. Fitzpatrick was gone by 2013.
He was the right quarterback at the right time when Geno Smith got Enemkpali’ed before the 2015 season began, smart and tough, until Week 16 in Buffalo with a playoff berth on the line.
He gave New York more FitzMagic than anyone could have expected.
He should make more FitzMagic now by signing on the dotted line.