Ryan Fitzpatrick

Over the course of a decade-long career, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick provided consistently expert play, while also earning several franchise records for passing, for a variety of professional football teams, including the St. Louis Rams, Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets. Born Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick in Gilbert, Arizona on November 24, 1982, he was a three-sport athlete at Highland High School in Gilbert, playing football, basketball and track, but showed the greatest determination and talent in the former. Fitzpatrick set 12 school records while playing for the Highland Hawks and led the team to the state playoffs three years in a row between 1998 and 2000. As a mathematics student at Harvard had five starts in his freshman and sophomore seasons before taking over as starting quarterback in 2003; he would complete his college career with Ivy League MVP status in 2003 and a place in the school record books as the only quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards while also placing second among Harvard players for pass completions (384 of 641), touchdowns (39), and yards passing (5,234). In 2005, he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the National Football League (NFL) Draft, and made a spectacular debut with the team that year, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns. But he showed less promise in subsequent games, and by 2007, was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, where he ranked third in rushing yards among quarterbacks. His performance with the Bengals led to a 3-year, $7.405 million contract with the Buffalo Bills in 2009, and again, enjoyed a strong start, throwing 116 yards with a touchdown and interception against the Jets. Despite steady playing for most of 2009, including a team record for longest touchdown pass with a 98-yard throw to Terrell Owens, Fitzpatrick was made backup quarterback at the start of the 2010 season, though he returned to starting duties by September of that year. He would go on to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Month laurels in 2011 after leading touchdowns on five straight possessions in a game against the Raiders; the Bills would reward him with a six-year, $59-million contract extension, but Fitzpatrick's performance soon took a swift decline, due in part to breaking his ribs during a game. He was eventually released by the Bills in 2013 and signed with the Tennessee Titans for two years, during which he threw for 2,454 yards with 14 touchdowns. By 2014, he was again a free agent, and signed with the Houston Texans, with whom he threw for 2,483 yards and 17 touchdowns before ending his season with a fractured tibia. The Texans traded Fitzpatrick to the Jets for a late-round conditional draft pick in 2015; though suffering the occasional injury, he would enjoy his best professional year with 3,905 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns, which overtook Vinny Testaverde's franchise record from 1998. He signed a one-year, $12 million contract with the Jets the following year.