Commander Country

'Forever Grateful': Ryan Fitzpatrick, Former Washington QB, Retires After 17 NFL Seasons

A legendary career that ended in Washington.

Jeremy Brener

The NFL lost a little bit of its magic Thursday after the announcement that journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick would retire.

The news first came from former Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson, who was Fitzpatrick's teammate from 2009-12.

Fitzpatrick played for nine teams during his 17-year NFL career. He played for the St. Louis Rams (2005-06), Cincinnati Bengals (2007-08), Bills (2009-12), Tennessee Titans (2013), Houston Texans (2014), New York Jets (2015-16), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2017-18), Miami Dolphins (2019-20) and the Washington Football Team (2021).

Fitzpatrick was the Week 1 starter ahead of last season, but after suffering a hip subluxation in the first game of the season, the journeyman quarterback was placed on injured reserve.

Should he stay retired, that would have been the final play of his career.

Fitzpatrick was seen as a player who could help keep Washington in the playoff race after a 2020 NFC East title, but his injury set Washington's 2021 season into a tailspin that forced the team to play catchup from the start. Taylor Heinicke took over Fitzpatrick's starting duties for most of the season.

As a free agent, Fitzpatrick was waiting to see if there was any interest in him joining a team in 2022, but nobody was willing to sign the 39-year-old to a contract.

The Washington Commanders had high hopes for Fitzpatrick, but those subsided during the season and any hopes of a return to the nation's capital were put to rest once the team traded for Carson Wentz earlier in the offseason.

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Jeremy Brener
JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.

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