Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Net Worth Climbs Each Time He Lands With a New NFL Team
Studying economics at an Ivy League school may have taught him a little something about preserving wealth. However, it’s the ability to throw a football and a willingness to move around every couple of years that has built Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s net worth into a winning number.
Fitzpatrick is the very definition of an NFL journeyman, and that journey has paid him well over the years.
Ryan Fitzpatrick’s path to the NFL began at Harvard
The Ivy League is anything but a consistent breeding ground for NFL prospects. But Ryan Fitzpatrick flourished on the football field at Harvard while studying economics there. Fitzpatrick showed his worth while playing extensively as a sophomore and then was a two-year starter beginning in 2003.
He threw for 3,756 yards and 29 touchdowns over his final two seasons. In 2004, he led the team to a 10-0 record and the Ivy League championship. That helped earn Fitzpatrick league honors as top player as well as the George H. “Bulger” Lowe Award, presented annually to the top Division I player in New England.
The performance also earned Fitzpatrick an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine, where his 48 (out of a possible 50) on the Wonderlic Test is reputed to be the highest score ever by a quarterback. Selected 250th overall by the St. Louis Rams, Fitzpatrick was the last of 14 quarterbacks to be drafted in 2005. Of the 14, only Fitzpatrick and Aaron Rodgers played last season.
A journeyman’s career but respected by coaches and peers
Ryan Fitzpatrick’s career in the NFL has taken him to eight teams, and his second season with the Miami Dolphins is likely to be his last following the team’s selection of Tua Tagovailoa in the first round this past April.
Fitzpatrick’s longest tenure with any one team was with the Buffalo Bills from 2009-12, during which he threw 80 touchdowns but 64 interceptions. He’s bounced around to five teams in seven years since, usually with the same role: holding down the fort until the team could draft its next franchise quarterback and/or tutoring his replacement.
Some might see that as a tough way to make a living, but Fitzpatrick’s willingness to take on the role has won him fans in the coaching and front-office ranks. His ratio of 210 career touchdown passes to 161 interceptions looks better when put into the context of seldom playing for a team that was in a position to win. In fact, he has yet to appear in a playoff game.
Ryan Fitzpatrick’s net worth climbs each time he moves
Being a journeyman has meant that Ryan Fitzpatrick has only signed one long-term, big-money contract in his NFL career. That came in 2011 when the Buffalo Bills locked him in for six years and $59 million. Even then, though, the stay was short-lived as he only saw $21.2 million over two years before being cut in favor of E.J. Manuel.
Still, Fitzpatrick has picked his spots wisely. He earned $15.3 million over two years with the New York Jets and is in the back end of a two-year, $11 million deal with the Miami Dolphins. He’ll turn 38 this fall, but some other team will come calling when the free-agent window opens next March.
As a result of his longevity and wise money management, Celebrity Net Worth calculates Ryan Fitzpatrick’s net worth at $18 million.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference.
