Miami Dolphins ‘fully expect’ to have their team MVP back in 2020
It’s going to be a FitzMagical 2020 in Miami.
The Dolphins “fully expect” Ryan Fitzpatrick to return to the Dolphins for a 16th NFL season, Chris Grier said here during a break in Senior Bowl practices Wednesday.
Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins’ 2019 MVP, has one year left on his current contract — with a base salary of $8 million — but declined to commit to playing this coming fall when asked about his future last month.
But based on Grier’s comments, it seems as though Fitzpatrick has communicated to the Dolphins that he does not plan to retire.
“We fully expect Ryan to be back and playing,” Grier said. “He did a great job in the locker room, his leadership and just his enthusiasm. You guys saw how he carries himself. He did a great job for us.”
Fitzpatrick was the main reason the Dolphins managed to win five games last fall. He led the Dolphins in passing and rushing and threw 20 touchdown passes.
Fitzpatrick seemed to hint at a return when he spoke with reporters four weeks ago, but wasn’t ready to say for certain he would play in 2020.
“I think part of it for me is just sitting down with my family and it’s something that I owe to them and to my wife and figuring things out on that end of it,” Fitzpatrick said at the time. “My wife’s always been very supportive in whatever I want to do, and physically it’s not an issue. Physically I feel great. So there’s always different things that go into it, and you’re always drained at the end of the season emotionally. So there’s a lot of stuff that goes into it but I still love playing, so it’s going to hard to, uh, let’s see. I don’t know that it’ll be a difficult decision. I just think that I’ll go through the due process and figure things out.”
