Ryan Fitzpatrick

Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick (born November 24, 1982) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons.

Fitzpatrick started at quarterback for nine teams, the most in league history.

He is also the only NFL player to have a passing touchdown with eight different teams.

Fitzpatrick's 641 pass attempts rank fourth in school history and his 1,006 total plays for 6,721 yards in total offense broke the old school career records of 1,005 plays by Mike Giardi (1991–93) and 6,519 yards by Rose.

Fitzpatrick was also the school's first quarterback to rush for over 1,000 career yards.

Like most incoming NFL rookies, Fitzpatrick took the Wonderlic test.

Fitzpatrick completed the test in nine minutes, with rumors indicating that he obtained a perfect score of 50.

While an economics student at Harvard University, Fitzpatrick had five starts for the Crimson during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, working as the backup for Neil Rose.

In 2002, Fitzpatrick recorded 1,155 passing yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions to go along with 523 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

After Rose graduated in 2003, Fitzpatrick took over the starting job and finished his junior campaign with 1,770 yards, 16 touchdowns, and eight interceptions in seven games.

Additionally, he ran for 430 yards and six touchdowns, leading his team to a 7–3 record.

In 2004, Fitzpatrick was named the Ivy League Player of the Year and winner of the George H. "Bulger" Lowe Award, as he accumulated 1,986 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.

He also led Harvard to a 10–0 record, thus winning the Ivy League Championship.

He ranked second on the team with 448 rushing yards and five scores.

For his career, Fitzpatrick ranked second on Harvard's career list for pass completions, touchdowns, passing yards, and pass completion percentage, topped only by Neil Rose.

Fitzpatrick played college football for the Harvard Crimson, where he was the school's first quarterback to have over 1,000 rushing yards, and was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL Draft.

However, a 2005 The Wall Street Journal report said that Fitzpatrick scored a 48, which is still considered exceptionally high.

While his actual score is unknown, Fitzpatrick has acknowledged leaving at least one question blank, making 49 his highest possible score.

To date, Fitzpatrick has the highest reported Wonderlic test score achieved among NFL quarterbacks.

The only player to earn a verified perfect score on the Wonderlic was also a Harvard graduate: wide receiver/punter Pat McInally, who played his entire career for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The St. Louis Rams selected Fitzpatrick in the seventh round (250th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft.

Fitzpatrick was the last of 14 quarterbacks drafted in 2005.

On July 18, 2005, the Rams signed Fitzpatrick to a three-year, $953,000 contract.

Throughout training camp, Fitzpatrick competed for a roster spot against Jeff Smoker to be the Rams' third-string quarterback.

Head coach Mike Martz named Fitzpatrick the third-string quarterback on the depth chart to begin his rookie season, behind Marc Bulger and Jamie Martin.

Fitzpatrick was upgraded to the primary backup role in Week 6 after Bulger sustained a shoulder injury and was placed on injured reserve.

On November 27, 2005, Fitzpatrick made his professional regular season debut after entering the game in the second quarter against the Houston Texans to replace injured veteran journeyman Jamie Martin.

Fitzpatrick completed 19 of 30 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns for a 117.4 quarterback rating and led the Rams from a 24–3 halftime deficit to a 33–27 overtime road victory.

He earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his effort.

This made Fitzpatrick one of only eight players who passed for more than 300 yards in their NFL debut.

The win earned him the next three starts, making Fitzpatrick the first Harvard quarterback to start an NFL game.

Fitzpatrick was unable to duplicate his debut performance in the games he started with the Rams coming two weeks later in a 27–13 road loss to the Minnesota Vikings, throwing for 235 yards and five interceptions for a QB rating of 32.4 for the game.

Fitzpatrick was replaced by Martin after halftime the following week, after struggling in a home game against the Philadelphia Eagles in which he completed just 41.7% of his passes for a total of 69 yards.

Fitzpatrick finished his rookie season completing 76 of 153 passes for 777 yards, four touchdowns, and eight interceptions to go along with 14 carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns in four games and three starts.

In 2006, Fitzpatrick appeared in only one game, appearing late in the regular season finale against the Minnesota Vikings in relief of Marc Bulger and ran out the clock in the 41–21 road victory.

On September 1, 2007, Fitzpatrick was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals for a seventh-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

A restricted free agent in the 2008 offseason, Fitzpatrick signed his one-year tender offer from the Bengals on April 17.

Fitzpatrick's longest stint was with the Buffalo Bills for four seasons, while his only two winning seasons were with the 2015 New York Jets and the 2020 Miami Dolphins.

As a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018, Fitzpatrick became the first NFL quarterback to throw for over 400 yards in three consecutive games.

He holds the most career passing yards and passing touchdowns among NFL quarterbacks without a postseason appearance.