Ryan Fitzpatrick will move on from the Jets after a polarizing 2 years

On Friday, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will officially become a free agent after an exciting two-year stint with the New York Jets. Two years that included the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows for the journeyman quarterback. A quarterback who could have a team thinking playoffs one week, and wanting to run him out of town the next.

Ryan Fitzpatrick’s time in New York was magical.

He joined the team in 2015, as the Jets seemed lost at the quarterback position. Geno Smith had not lived up to expectations, and was sidelined for the first few weeks of the season after a teammate broke his jaw in a locker room altercation. Bryce Petty was deemed not ready to be an NFL starter, and Mike Vick had left the offseason before.

Coming from Houston, a team that had a quarterback carousel of its own, Fitzpatrick was stepping into a situation he was used to. He knew he wasn’t the franchise guy, just as he wasn’t in his previous five NFL franchises. He was a career backup, who would always be ready to take over if the starter began to struggle. That is what made what he did in 2015 was so special.

Fitzpatrick took over and instantly made his presence in New York felt. The team raced out to a 4-1 start and looked like contenders in the AFC East. In true Jets fashion, they then lost four of the next five games and seemed to have played their way right back out of the playoff race no one expected for them to be a part of in the first place.

The Jets found themselves right back in it, though, and a five-game winning streak where Fitzpatrick threw 13 touchdowns and only one interception had them one win away from the postseason.

Then, in the Week 17 match up against a division rival, the Buffalo Bills, only a week removed from an incredible performance to upset the New England Patriots, he imploded. Fitzpatrick threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter, and the Jets ended their season with a heartbreaking loss.

The following offseason, Fitzpatrick missed nearly the entire offseason with the Jets due to a contract dispute. They wanted to re-sign him to a three-year deal, but he held out, betting on himself to make the most of a one-year deal for a bigger contract in the future.

A public rift between the Jets and Fitzpatrick arose, with receiver Brandon Marshall even revealing that he had dropped contact with his quarterback after they had texted nearly every day during the previous season.

The quarterback eventually returned to the team, and everything went wrong. He had possibly the worst performance of any quarterback in 2016 during a Week 3 game against the Chiefs, throwing six (!) interceptions.

He was benched twice, but always found his way back on the field due to Smith and Petty’s inability to stay healthy. A 3-8 record as a starter has all but ended any chance he had at taking over as the Jets long-term quarterback, and now he finds himself in a familiar situation — a journeyman yet again looking for a place to call home.

Teams like San Francisco and Cleveland may come calling this offseason, as they both have a long way to go before they can truly contend again and he could serve as a stand-in until their young options at QB develop into full time starters. Teams like the Bears and Bills could use his services, as they have a lot of question marks themselves at the position, and a player who has shown some flashes of talent could be enough to head them in the right direction.

What teams do know, though, is that Fitzpatrick may be one of the most polarizing players in the league. One week he looks like an MVP contender, and the next he reminds you why he’s now looking for a sixth franchise to play for.

Now that we’ve finished the Jets chapter of Fitzpatrick’s career, it’s already time to begin yet another.