Ryan Fitzpatrick Biography

Ryan Fitzpatrick was born on November 24, 1982, in Gilbert, Arizona, United States of America.

He finished schooling from Highland High School in Gilbert, Arizona.

Ryan Fitzpatrick was a student of economics at Harvard University. At the university, he played college football and had the unique distinction of being the school’s first quarterback to have over 1000 rushing yards.

While at college, Fitzpatrick started playing as a backup for Neil Rose in 2001. In his first year, he had 1155 yards and eight touchdowns under his belt.

In 2003, after Rose graduated, Fitzpatrick started playing as a quarterback. He was the senior captain of the Harvard team and they went on to win the Ivy League Championship with a perfect score of 10-0.

Ryan Fitzpatrick came to be seen as the best quarterback of the league and got the title of the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2004. He also won the George H “Bulger” Lowe Award.

Ryan Fitzpatrick was drafted in the NFL in 2005. He got picked up by St. Louis Rams for three years for $953,000 in the seventh round of NFL drafts.

As a rookie player Fitzpatrick had to take the Wonderlic test, an assessment that measures aptitude and problem-solving ability. It is said that he scored 48 out of a possible 50 and solved the test in nine minutes. A record which no other quarterback had.

He made his debut on November 27, 2005, when he replaced Jamie Martin who had been injured.  His first match was against Houston Texans. His team went on to win the game 33-27. Fitzpatrick got the NFC Offensive Player of the Week title for his role in the win.

In September 2007, Fitzpatrick was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals which set the pace of his career as an NFL nomad. He made his debut against Cleveland Browns on September 28, 2008, when Carson Palmer, the starting quarterback had an elbow injury.

He continued to start for the entire season and at the end of the 2008 season, he was ranked third among the rushing yards quarterbacks.

In 2009 Ryan Fitzpatrick was signed up by the Buffalo Bills for a sum of $7.405 million for three years. His first match was played against the New York Jets which the Bills won.

In 2010 Fitzpatrick became the starting quarterback of the Buffalo Bills. He became the breakout quarterback of the season and was the first quarterback for Bills after 2006 who passed for at least 3000 yards during a single season.

After his contract with the Buffalo Bills ended in March 2013 he was signed up by the Tennessee Titans. Out of the 11 games he played for the Titans he started in 9 games.

Fitzpatrick’s performance during his time with the Titans was dismal and the team lost 6 games out of the 9 he started. He was released after his contract ended in 2014.

Fitzpatrick’s contract with the Houston Texans commenced in March 2014. The Texans coach selected him as the starting quarterback in June but he got demoted in November. However, Ryan Mallet who had been promoted to starting quarterback suffered an injury, and Fitzpatrick was brought in as the starting quarterback again.

Ryan Fitzpatrick credits the Texans coach Bill O’Brien and quarterbacks coach George Godsey for making the year 2014, a turning point for him. He started seeing the game differently which helped him improve his performance year after year.

On November 30, 2014, Fitzpatrick created a record for the Houston Texans by throwing for six touchdowns and 358 yards with no interceptions. He was declared Offensive Player of the Week.

In March 2015 he started playing for the New York Jets which was then being coached by his former coach Chan Gailey.  For the 2015 season, Fitzpatrick was the starting quarterback for all the 16 games played by the Jets.

2015 proved to be his best year as a professional. His game statistics for this year were 3905 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

In 2016 as a free agent, Ryan Fitzpatrick signed a one-year contract with the Jets for $12 million. He played 14 games, 11 out of which he played as a starting quarterback.

Jets went out of the 2016 season and part of the reason was Fitzpatrick’s performance. His contract with New York Jets was voided in February, 2017.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Fitzpatrick for $3 million for one year in May 2017. In this season he played 6 games and had 1,103 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions.

His contract was extended for another year by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018.  In this season, he played 8 games and achieved 2,366 passing yards, 17 touchdowns, 12 interceptions.

In March 2019, Ryan Fitzpatrick joined the Miami Dolphins. With Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins won 13 out of the 15 games they played in 2019. He was the leading rusher for the team with 243 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. He also became the oldest player to do so.

In September 2020, Fitzpatrick was chosen over rookie Tua Tagovailoa as the Dolphins starting quarterback. In spite of playing excellently, Fitzpatrick was ultimately benched as the team decided to give his spot to the younger Tagovailoa.

In March 2021, Ryan Fitzpatrick was signed on by the Washington Football Team for one year.

Ryan Fitzpatrick met his future wife Liza Barber while studying at Harvard. She was the captain of her university’s soccer team.

On June 24, 2006, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Liza Barber tied the knot. The couple has seven children. All his children were born in different states as the player moved from team to team.

Fitzpatrick never removes his wedding ring even during his games. His unique long beard which he started keeping during his playing days for Buffalo Bills has become his hallmark.