Ryan Fitzpatrick sent text messages to former teammates on Thursday, including former Bills running back Fred Jackson and center Eric Wood, thanking them for a “magical ride.”
Fitzpatrick is retiring from the NFL after 17 seasons. He played on nine different teams and his four-year run with the Bills was the longest of his career with a single team.
Over the course of his career, Fitzpatrick earned the nickname “FitzMagic” for his ability to raise his level of play to amazing heights. Like the six games where he threw for over 400 yards or the one game in 2014 when he threw six touchdown passes as the Tennessee Titans quarterback. He also played for the St. Louis Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins and finished his career with the Washington Commanders.
Fitzpatrick suffered a season-ending hip injury last season in his first game in a Washington uniform. He was unable to make his way back and now appears to be calling it quits at the age of 39. He spoke about the nickname “Fitzpatrick” last year.
“I tell ya, I just think there’s times in games where I just get excited,” Fitzpatrick told NBC Sports Washington. “I try to play with passion, I try to make sure that rubs off on my teammates and, if you talk to a lot of my former teammates, I think they would tell you they enjoyed playing with me. For me, it’s real, it’s who I am, I just try to bring guys around me up. That’s what I’ve tried to do for the majority of my career.”
The Buffalo community embraced Fitzpatrick when he played for the Bills and it has continued to show love wherever he’s gone — even twice in the division. He was one of the highlights of the drought era where the team didn’t make the playoffs for 17 straight seasons. He returned to town for Wood’s retirement announcement in 2018 to support his friend.
He also returned to Buffalo earlier this year to watch the Bills play the Patriots in the playoffs. He was in the stands with his son and at one point took his shirt off to celebrate the blowout win. Look, there’s a picture.
As the Bills quarterback from 2009-2012, Fitzpatrick threw for 11,654 yards (5th all time in franchise history), 80 touchdowns (4th all time in franchise history) and 64 interceptions. He finished his career with 59 wins, 34,990 yards, and 223 touchdowns.
Fitzpatrick has always showed Buffalo love right back, too.
“I’ve loved all of the places that I’ve played, I really have…but nothing compares to the City of Buffalo, not even close,” Fitzpatrick said last summer.
It’ll be interesting to watch to see if the Bills extend a one-day contract offer to Fitzpatrick to allow him to retire as a Bill. Stay tuned.
