Ryan Fitzpatrick Comments on Re-Signing with Jets, Offseason, More

New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick stated Thursday morning he's relieved the drawn-out contract stalemate with the franchise is finally over and compared his first day back at the team facility like a kid's first day at school. 

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News spoke with Fitzpatrick one day after Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the sides agreed on a one-year, $12 million contract. The quarterback talked about the pleasure of finally being able to put the drama behind him:

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Oh my gosh… it's been a long six months for sure. The biggest feeling was relief. Just relief to have it over and done with. And then when I was driving in (Wednesday night to the team facility) and walking up to the team meeting, it was like the first day of school. I was just all excited to see everybody and to be back in the building. Because through the entire offseason program, I wasn't allowed to be there. It was such a weird feeling. I was 10 minutes away just sitting at home getting calls and texts every day. After every practice, talking with the guys and not being allowed in the building to participate and compete with them. That made it an awfully long offseason for me. Now I'm ready to get to work.

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Perhaps the most amazing part of the ordeal is the fact nobody believed the result would be any different. There was never any serious interest from another team in the 33-year-old veteran and his 80.8 career passer rating, and the Jets needed stability at the game's most important position.

Even Fitzpatrick, who said his wife started giving him the "evil eye" as the season approached and he remained without a contract, knew this was always the end game.

"I thought that it would always get done," Fitzpatrick told Mehta. "Unfortunately, we had to go through that long process to get to the end result. But I didn't have any doubts that at some point it would work itself out."

So the question that's going to loom large over the Jets, especially if the quarterback gets off to a sluggish start, is why they waited so long to hammer out the details. It's hard to imagine they seriously considered entering the season with Geno Smith, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.

The Harvard product explained to Mehta that he will focus on getting this time back during the early stages of training camp and the preseason.

"It wasn't ideal, but this will be my 12th training camp," Fitzpatrick said. "So I think I know what I need to do to prepare. I'll definitely have to knock off some rust for the next week or two, because I haven't really been throwing to wide receivers, especially with guys with this speed."

Ultimately, even though Fitzpatrick expressed confidence he's getting better with age, his role remains the same. He's a stopgap quarterback capable of adequately filling a short-term void, which is exactly what the Jets need, but he's not a long-term solution.

It's a sentiment that's held true every day since the end of the 2015 season. Why the two sides waited until the starting of training camp to admit that and reunite is a mystery, but now the team must hope the decision doesn't prevent Fitzpatrick from being in top form when the regular season kicks off.