Todd Bowles: 'I'm through' talking about Ryan Fitzpatrick
One day after turning up the pressure on free-agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to sign a contract, New York Jets coach Todd Bowles told reporters Thursday that he’s done talking about the player whose negotiations have become all too public this offseason.
“With all due respect, I’m through talking about Fitz,” Bowles said on the final day of the team’s three-day minicamp, the last offseason activity before the Jets take an extended break ahead of training camp.
On Wednesday, Bowles backed off his stance of holding the starting job open indefinitely for the quarterback whose career season led the Jets to a 10-6 record in 2015.
“There is probably a point (where someone else is named the starter),” Bowles said, via the New York Post. “It’s not different from an injury. If a guy gets hurt and somebody steps in, and he wins a couple of games and plays well, and it’s not broke you don’t fix it. We’re not at that point yet. If we 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 a ticking clock. You have time until you don’t have time.”
For now, Bowles is the one who has time — roughly five weeks before the team begins training camp — to decide whether he wants to break his vow of silence on Fitzpatrick. If the quarterback isn’t present when practices resume, there won’t be too many other questions at Jets camp on that matter.
