Coming into the Buffalo Bills' offense, Ryan Fitzpatrick was nothing more than a journeymen just helping out a team in need in 2009. Now he has become a household name in Buffalo, as he is helping the Bills to their first playoff appearance in just so many years.
Fitzpatrick signed a six-year, $59 million extension with $24 million guaranteed, making him the franchise quarterback.
The 28-year-old Fitzpatrick was a seventh round pick by the St. Louis Rams in 2005. His first year started off, well, slow. He played four games that year, having 777 yards with four touchdowns and eight interceptions, going for a 58.2 rating.
Fitzpatrick did nothing in 2006 with the Rams and wasn't even on an NFL team in 2007. In 2008, he was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals, who needed major help with Carson Palmer down. Fitzpatrick would play 13 games for the Bengals, having 1,905 yards with eight touchdowns and nineinterceptions, finishing with a 70 rating.
The Harvard graduate would then play with the Bills in 2009. He didn't do so well in his first year with the team, having 1,422 yards with nine touchdowns and ten interceptions, finishing with a 69.7 rating. However, the next year, things started clicking for Fitzpatrick finally. He had a much more improved season, passing for 3,000 yards with 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 2010.
Now Fitzpatrick is having his best season yet so far, with 1,477 yards with twelve touchdowns and six picks for a 95.3. He has been very accurate as well, completing 66-percent of his passes as the Bills have been the surprise team of the year right now, standing at a 4-2 record.
He started out as a journeyman, and now he is making a name for himself. Finally.
The Bills have spent the past 15 years to find the right quarterback to be the successor to Jim Kelly, as it was the golden age of Bills' football, when they made it to four straight Super Bowls (but sadly losing every single one of them). The only other quarterback to provide something for Buffalo was Doug Flutie, who has been the last starting QB to earn a contract extension with Buffalo in 1999.
"I'm excited about Ryan getting this done. He'll be our quarterback for a long time," general manager Buddy Nix said. "It really makes everything easier for us. It's easy to put good players around him if you've got that position that you feel good about. And we do."
The Bills will host Washington next. Buffalo has been playing great, and so has Fitzpatrick.
Congrats and I look forward to seeing him do well for the next six years.
