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It was an interesting question to pose, but I don’t think that they are thinking that way at this stage of the game . . .
A New York Post headline asked this question today – “At what point would Jets move on from Ryan Fitzpatrick?
Good question.
But to me, this is all a moot point right now.
And the narrative they need to “move on” is the stuff paper tigers are made of.
Look, I’m not accusing the Jets of being “paper tigers” because they aren’t threatening to move on.
The one quote that people point to in terms of a deadline is when Todd Bowles said at the Jets’ veteran minicamp – “There comes a point if you get to Week 4 in training camp and he’s not here, you know who your starter is going to be Week 1. It’s to the extreme, but there is a ticking clock. You have time until you don’t have time.”
That isn’t a threat, that is just common sense.
If Fitzpatrick isn’t in town in late August, and the first regular season game is on the horizon, you need to start preparing another QB to face the Cincinnati Bengals.
Bowles wasn’t drawing a line in the sand or threatening Fitz, he was just dealing with reality.
The Jets don’t want to move on from Fitz being their starter this year AT ANY POINT. They want him to be there starter in 2016.
If they really thought they had another option that was as good, they might have pulled the offer already and moved on.
This narrative that they need to “just move on,” which I showed you some examples of from twitter yesterday, is strictly coming from fans.
It’s not coming from One Jets Drive.
To me, it’s a narrative that makes no sense. If you took the contract dispute this far, this isn’t the time to pull the plug.
The Jets’ brass knows darn well Fitz gives them the best chance to win. And just because they might be perturbed by this protracted contract mess, that doesn’t change the fact that they feel he gives them their best chance to win (especially against a brutal schedule).
And their highly-paid starting receivers want him to be their quarterback. I’m not saying the inmates should run the asylum, but do you want two ticked off starting receivers. We’ve seen how Brandon Marshall gets sometimes when he’s unhappy with the QB play. Ask Jay Cutler. The mercurial Marshall will be livid if Fitzpatrick isn’t the quarterback. Believe me, if you are the Jets, you don’t want that.
My point is simple – the Jets are in this contract battle for the long haul. Or perhaps the short haul at this point with camp a couple of weeks away.
I think they are willing to take this into camp even though that is far from ideal.
Because they know Fitzpatrick gives them their best chance to win.
So this “moving on” talk isn’t steeped in reality at this point.
July 12, 2015
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