This week on the 5th Down UK podcast, we discussed the different fortunes of 2 starting quarterbacks on the East Coast who were out of contract in the summer –
Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Jets, and Kurt Cousins of the Redskins.
By the start of the pre-season, both were back under contract, albeit in differing circumstances – Cousins would be taking home $20million under the franchise tag, while Fitzpatrick’s hold out resulted in a lower-end 1 year contract worth $12million.
Through the opening 2 weeks of the season, their performances did not seem to respect those valuations – Fitz was driving his powerful offence to a dominant Week 2 victory over the Bills in Thursday Night Football (following a somewhat unfortunate 1pt defeat to the Bengals in Week 1), while Cousins was enduring a couple of error strewn home defeats against the Steelers and the Cowboys.
So then Week 3 happened….
In the Jets matchup away at the Chiefs, Fitzpatrick threw an unbelievable 6 interceptions for 0 touchdowns in a brutal 3-24 defeat.
One more interception, and Ryan Fitzpatrick would’ve thrown as many today as Tom Brady did all last season.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 25, 2016
On the flipside, Kurt Cousins went error free on his away-day, leading the Redskins to their first victory of the season, against a much fancied New York Giants.
Both teams are now 1-2, but in just one week things are now a lot more positive in Washington. And for 2 quarterbacks who went into this season on the hot seat, it seems you get what you pay for.
5th Down UK 