Fitzpatrick didn’t compile a run at the Hall of Fame, but it was definitely worth watching, both on and off the field. Fitzpatrick threw a touchdown pass to 62 different players in his career, coming behind a trio of passengers (Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Vinny Testaverde) who have thrown a touchdown pass to more than 62 different players in history. of the NFL. He became known for being the author of exciting finals, no matter what team he played for, and the only disappointment came with the territory he did not reach: the postseason. Fitzpatrick’s 34,990 yards is the highest in NFL history for a player who has never played a playoff game, and ranks 32nd most in league history.
However, given where he started, Fitzpatrick outperformed his chances by a wide margin. He has the most passing yards of his career among all selected quarterbacks in the seventh round after the Common Draft era, surpassing by 749 yards, Steve DeBerg, 10th round of 1977 and well ahead of the champion of the Super Bowl XXXVII, Brad Johnson. Fitzpatrick is the only quarterback in NFL history to have won a game with seven or more different teams (Miami, Tampa Bay, New York Jets, Buffalo, Houston, Cincinnati, Tennessee). He has also been tied in the seventh season of his career by a quarterback since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, just behind Brady, Testaverde, Brett Favre, Dave Krieg and Ben Roethlisberger, and is one of 30 quarterbacks in history. of the NFL with 34,000- more passing yards and more than 220 passing touchdowns in one run.
Fitzpatrick first saw the field as a result of an injury to Rams starter Marc Bulger and appeared in four games (three starters) in 2005, with a 0-3 start. He didn’t throw a pass in a game for the next two seasons, continuing a pedestrian run typical of a late selection, but in 2008 that’s when things started to change for Fitzpatrick.
St. Louis replaced Fitzpatrick in Cincinnati for a seventh-round pick in 2007, and the quarterback ended up starting 12 games with the Bengals instead of injured Carson Palmer. He was a 4-7-1 starter and impressed other NFL clubs enough to secure a three-year deal with the Buffalo Bills in 2009. Another injury to a starter, this time Trent Edwards, open the door to Fitzpatrick. prove his worth, and for the 2011 season, Fitzpatrick had done enough to earn the starting job at Buffalo for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
So it became the theme of Fitzpatrick’s career: signing with a team, fighting for a place on the roster, and finally finding his way to the field due to a head injury. He moved to Tennessee in 2013 and Houston in 2014. In 2015, Fitzpatrick found some stability with the New York Jets (in part due to an altercation in the locker room that forced Geno Smith out), marking an exciting season that almost saw New York. get to the postseason. He stayed one more season before moving to Tampa, where he replaced injured starter Jameis Winston in six games (three starters) in 2017 and played in eight games (seven starters) in 2018, with an interception touchdown ratio of 24-15. between 2017 and 2018.