Ryan Fitzpatrick wants to keep playing

Last week, Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told the media he “fully expects” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to return to the team in 2020. Fitzpatrick, 37-year old, 15-year veteran, had said he wanted time to decide if he would play in 2020. Now, the quarterback seems like he is ready for another year with the Dolphins.

“I want to keep playing,” Fitzpatrick told Miami radio station 560 The Joe from Super Bowl Radio Row on Friday. “Physically, you have to re-evaluate everything and mentally and emotionally. It didn’t take very long for me to know, with the season we had this last year and how much fun I had out there, I want to keep playing.”

Fitzpatrick threw for 3,529 yards and 20 touchdowns this season, starting 13 games for Miami. He also led the Dolphins with 243 yards rushing this season. His 13 starts and 15 games played were the most playing time since he started all 16 games for the New York Jets in 2025. He has only started 13 or more games for a team five times in his career, which has also included playing time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Houston Texans, the Tennessee Titans, the Buffalo Bills, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the (then) St. Louis Rams.

“He did a great job – the things he did with the young players, too, in the locker room, his leadership and just his enthusiasm,” Grier had said of Fitzpatrick last week. “I mean, you guys saw him, how he is and carries himself. He did a great job for us.”

The Dolphins could look to Fitzpatrick to serve as the team’s starting quarterback early in 2020 while mentoring a rookie quarterback selected in this year’s NFL Draft, eventually giving way when the rookie is ready to play. If Miami were to select Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, often projected as Miami’s selection with the fifth-overall pick, they could allow Fitzpatrick to play the entire season while allowing the rookie a chance to continue his rehabilitation from a hip injury that prematurely ended his 2019 season.

Fitzpatrick will have an $8 million salary cap number for the Dolphins in 2020.

Of his beard, which is cleaned up as he makes the Radio Row rounds, Fitzpatrick explained, “My wife loves it [cleaned up]. My kids hate it. I hate it. It’s not itchy; it’s too clean.”