Ryan Fitzpatrick

Ryan Fitzpatrick has been named the opening game starter for the Miami Dolphins. This will be Fitzmagic's 15th NFL season after graduating from Harvard.

I have a special place in my heart for Fitzpatrick because I predicted his success. Here's what I wrote on September 11, 2004:

"I am picking Harvard QB Ryan Fitzpatrick as my dark horse candidate for the Heisman this year. Fitzpatrick is the real deal. He has a cannon and can run. Some day he'll be playing on Sundays. If the Crimson can go undefeated - then look for Fitzpatrick to pick up some Gordie Lockbaum like support from the major media."

Now I'm not trying to say Fitzpatrick is a Tom Brady level QB but 15 NFL seasons is no joke.  Fitzpatrick was the last of 14 QB's taken in the 2005 NFL Draft (4 of which never played an NFL down). Aaron Rodgers was by far the best of the QB's drafted but Fitzpatrick could easily finish with the 2nd most passing yards and TD's of the group (assuming Alex Smith's career may be finished by his devastating injury last season).

Oh and 2004 Heisman - I'm guessing winner Matt Leinart got the votes but I bet he wishes he had Fitzmagic's NFL career.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I wonder if Aaron Rodgers is rethinking the A-Rod nickname?... Is it "duck" tape or "duct" tape?... "Matt Leinart" is French for "Will QB for food"... Can someone remind me what the point of the Occupy Movement was and what it accomplished?... What if A-Rod was only taking steroids in an effort to transform himself into a centaur?... Regarding that lab grown beef that was in the news recently. If they had lab grown chicken - could it really be any worse than Chicken McNuggets?... Steve Spurrier really is an American original.... President Harding in 1920 started the tradition of answering questions directly from reporters. Is that tradition coming to an end? If I were a Republican President I'd probably stop it... When John Henry takes over the Boston Globe - it will be interesting to see if he keeps Dan Shaughnessy for long. He could hire five up and coming writers for the salary he pays Shaughnessy. It would be the Sabermetric thing to do...

Mark Sanchez and Matt Leinart

A normal thinking person would probably argue that Mark Sanchez is not the answer for the Jets at QB and that the team has nothing to lose by giving the ball to Tim Tebow. Yet Rex Ryan and those in charge of the NYJ don't seem to be normal thinking people. Too stubborn? Too stupid? Both?

I can't help but keep thinking that Mark Sanchez is no different than fellow USC alumni Matt Leinart except Sanchez was drafted by a team that was determined to sink or swim with their number 1 draft pick while Leinart was drafted by a team run by normal thinking people. Seriously - I bet Matt Leinart wakes up every day thinking "why couldn't I have been drafted by the Jets."

One thing that Tim Tebow doesn't do is turn the ball over. That alone could have meant the difference in a couple of close games for the Jets this season. But instead of going with what will give them the best chance to win - the Jets are sticking with their bonus baby QB. As a Patriots fan - that's just fine with me.

Oh as an aside - I think its funny that that the folks at Pro-Football-Reference.com list Tim Tebow as a tight end (for 2012 season).

NFL Agents

The recent confessions by Josh Luchs about paying college football players when he was an sports agent got me thinking about an old question I had regarding agents. Back before the 2006 NFL draft the Wonderlic scores for Vince Young were leaked. The leak purported that Young scored a miserable 6 on the test. Back when that happened I speculated that the ones who could benefit from this leak could be the agent of another player who potentially could pass Young in the draft order and thus earn the agent tens of thousands of additional dollars.

The next QB in line to be drafted would seem the logical place to search for clues to the mystery Wonderlic leaker and given that Matt Leinart had some agent hopscotch going on - I wonder if his representation would be a good place to look. Consider that Leinart had Chuck Price (who doesn't seem to have much info available on him) as his "football agent" and he switched horses right before the draft from Leigh Steinberg as his contracts and marketing guy to Tom Condon. Then a year later Leinart drops Condon for convicted felon Mike Orstein who was fired by Reggie Bush just prior to signing Leinart.

Leinart seems to project a certain moral flexibility and I have to wonder if there could be a good story to his college finances and representation. I wonder if anyone has thought to ask Chuck Price what he thought about the realism of the Josh Luchs story?