Quarterback was undoubtedly the biggest question facing the Washington Football Team this offseason and the team appears to have it’s solution. Ryan Fitzpatrick has reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with Washington which will likely result in him being the starting quarterback heading into the 2021 season. At 38, he’s obviously not the long-term answer for Washington at the position, but if he plays to the level he did in 2020, he’ll be an upgrade at the position compared to what Washington had last season.
It’s a move that comes at relatively low cost without having to give up draft picks in a trade or give out a big multi-year contract to tie Washington into a quarterback for multiple years. It allows Washington to continue building up the supporting cast for another season while remaining competitive on the field, setting them up to make a big move for a quarterback next offseason.
So what will Fitzpatrick bring to Washington?
Skillset
Philosophically, he’s a completely different quarterback to Alex Smith. Smith was all about being efficient with the ball, getting through his progressions and getting the ball out of his hands quickly. While Fitzpatrick can do that, he’s far more aggressive. He brings a gunslinger mentality, meaning he’s far more willing to attack down the field and drive the ball into tighter windows. Of course, that comes with a significant risk factor, but can also generate big plays, something Washington struggled to do last season.
First play timestamp: 0:00
Notes: Fitzpatrick rarely misses an opportunity to take a shot down the field, regardless of the down and distance. This first play comes on third and goal from the 22. The 49ers align with a single deep safety and the slot corner follows the slot receiver in motion from right to left. That tells Fitzpatrick it’s likely man coverage. Whenever he gets man coverage, he looks to attack. Fitzpatrick knows he has his receiver outside one-on-one, so he takes the shot. He delivers a nice ball over the top that drops over the receivers shoulder for a touchdown.
Second play timestamp: 0:19
Notes: It’s not just outside the numbers that he’ll look to attack either. Here, the Dolphins call a four verticals concept out of a trips set to the left. The Bills send a blitz off the right side of the line but leave tight end Mike Gesicki running open over the middle. Fitzpatrick spots the linebacker dropping out into coverage and knows he’s a threat, so layers his throw nicely over the top of the linebacker to find his receiver for a big gain.
Fitzpatrick loves to trust his receivers to win their matchups and is more than willing to give them opportunity balls, giving them a chance to make a play for him.
On both of these two plays, we see Fitzpatrick put plenty of air under the ball on fade routes down the sideline. On both occasions, Fitzpatrick spots a single deep safety in the middle of the field and initially looks to his left to hold the safety in the middle of the field before quickly shifting back to his right and setting up to throw. Neither receiver gets past the corner defending them, but Fitzpatrick puts the ball out there trusting his receiver to go and get it. Both times, the receiver gets his hands to the ball, but he only catches the second throw.
Those types of opportunity balls and the willingness to attack down the field is something Washington lacked desperately last season. Terry McLaurin is an obvious benefactor from a quarterback like Fitzpatrick, but someone with size and ball skills like Cam Sims could also see some chances to make some big plays.
Fitzpatrick’s aggressiveness extends beyond taking shots down the field. He’s happy to try and fit the ball into tight windows, which when he gets it right, creates some tremendous plays.
First play timestamp: 0:00
Notes: On this first play of the clip, the Dolphins motion the outside receiver into a stacked set with the tight end. From there, they run a corner-flat combination. The outside cornerback is the read for Fitzpatrick. The cornerback stays shallow, defending the flat, but has his hips open and ready to sink back to the corner route behind him. Many quarterbacks might see that positioning from the cornerback and move onto another target, but Fitzpatrick has no hesitation in pulling the trigger. He rifles the ball into a very tight window between the sinking cornerback and the safety driving down on the route. The ball is perfect and is complete for a first down.
Second play timestamp: 0:21
Notes: The second play of the clip is a dagger concept. The slot receiver is tasked with getting vertical to occupy the deep coverage while the outside receiver breaks inside on a dig route into the vacated space. The slot defender complicates the play by widening the slot receiver’s route before sinking back underneath the outside receiver. However, Fitzpatrick spots the defender’s leverage with his hips open to the sideline and knows the defender will have to flip his hips inside as the receiver on the dig route breaks inside. This gives him a small window to deliver his throw before the defender can flip his hips and he does just that. Fitzpatrick hits the dagger route in the middle of four defenders and picks up another big gain.
However, the downside to all this aggression is that Fitzpatrick will give the defense opportunities for turnovers. The willingness to try and attack down the field and fit the ball into tight windows can sometimes lead to reckless throws that result in interceptions.
First play timestamp: 0:00
Notes: Here, Fitzpatrick attempts to work his receiver isolated on the back side of a trips set. The receiver runs a curl route, but fails to separate from the corner. We’ve already seen Fitzpatrick is willing to give his guys opportunities even if they don’t create much separation. However, on this occasion the defender in the flat drops back and sinks underneath the route. There’s two defenders in good positions to defend the play, the route is never open. Fitzpatrick tries to force it in there anyway and is lucky not to be intercepted.
Second play timestamp: 0:17
Notes: On this play, the Dolphins attempt to take advantage of the Seahawks’ tendency to play Cover-3. The slot receiver runs up the seam while the outside receiver runs an under route that breaks off at five yards. The hope is that the outside corner bites up on the under route and leaves the slot receiver open up the seam. However, the outside corner plays from off coverage and the depth allows him to see more of the field. He never bites on the underneath route and inside works inside to match the seam from the slot. Fitzpatrick still attempts to fit the ball in despite the corner matching the route and is deservedly intercepted.
This is the big downside with Fitzpatrick. While he might create more explosive plays for the offense, he’ll also generate plenty of turnovers. He had two interceptions in that game against the Seahawks, but it could have easily been four or five. In fact, in every game I watched there were at least a couple of interceptable passes from Fitzpatrick. Washington will have to accept that’s the risk that comes with Fitzpatrick’s aggressiveness.
Fit with Washington
While Fitzpatrick will be coming to a new system, there should be some crossover from what Fitzpatrick was good at in Miami and what Washington’s offensive coordinator likes to do. The Dolphins leaned heavily on run-pass-option plays (RPOs) last season and while Turner didn’t use them as much in Washington, he did use them this season and used plenty in Carolina in 2019. Fitzpatrick has the quick decision making and quick release to execute RPOs effectively, which can benefit Washington’s passing game and run game.
Another crossover point is working out of empty sets. Turner loves to use different personnel groups and then spread out the defense by working out of empty backfield sets. This can create matchup issues for the defense, with a tight end or running back aligned outside and a receiver aligned inside. The defense either has to play man, in which case the quarterback knows to work his best matchup, or play zone, where they expose linebackers and safeties inside to faster receivers. The Dolphins did this plenty too, and Fitzpatrick took advantage.
Here, the Dolphins use their 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers) and work out of an empty backfield. The running back aligns outside to the left, allowing two receivers to align in the slot. The 49ers respond by having a corner outside over the running back, which tells Fitzpatrick the defense is in zone coverage. Fitzpatrick then knows he can work his receiver up the seam potentially against a linebacker as he splits the two deep safeties. The linebacker initially works to the receiver up the seam, but peels off to take the underneath route. That leaves the receiver running up the seam and splitting the safeties. Fitzpatrick stands in the pocket and takes a hit from a cornerback blitz and gets a free rusher, but he delivers a strike over the middle and gets a touchdown for his efforts.
This offense is one that gives the quarterback freedom to work matchups that he likes. While the play called might give the quarterback a certain concept to work to, the quarterback has the freedom at the line of scrimmage to go off of that script if he gets a certain look that he likes. One example might be that if the quarterback gets a one-on-one outside against a press corner, he can abandon the concept and give his receiver a shot on a fade down the sideline, which we’ve already seen Fitzpatrick is willing to do. But Fitzpatrick goes a step further than that. For the Dolphins, Fitzpatrick often saw an opportunity to hit a quick slant to an isolated receiver for a free 10 yards.
First play timestamp: 0:00
Notes: On this play, the Dolphins align in a run-heavy formation with three tight ends on the field. The only receiver on the field is aligned tight to the formation, but isolated to the left. Fitzpatrick knows the play is a called run to the right, but spots the corner playing off and outside and recognizes he has an opportunity. He gives a hand signal to his receiver, swiping his left hand across his facemask to let the receiver know he wants him to run a quick slant. The receiver gets the signal and as Fitzpatrick takes the snap, he goes to hand the ball off but quickly pops up and hits the slant. The receiver makes the catch, breaks a tackle from the deep safety and picks up a first down.
Second play timestamp: 0:24
Notes: While this is a different look, it's a similar concept for Fitzpatrick. This time the Dolphins are spread out with three receivers to the right and one isolated to the left. Fitzpatrick spots another opportunity and makes the same signal with his left hand swiping across his facemask to change the receiver's route to a quick slant. The receiver gets the signal and runs a slant, breaking open over the middle for Fitzpatrick.
The ability and willingness to work off-script and make hand signals to change routes doesn’t fit in every offense. A lot of teams prefer the quarterback to work to the script and not deviate from it. But in Turner’s system, the quarterback is often granted more freedom to do things like that at the line of scrimmage, which can benefit the offense and suit Fitzpatrick’s play style.
Overall, I believe Fitzpatrick is a solid fit in Washington’s offense and should provide a very different type of quarterback to what the team got in Alex Smith last season. We should see a much more aggressive offense that attacks down the field and makes uses of receivers like Terry McLaurin. That will lead to more explosive plays, which matches with the modern style of offense. However, Washington will also have to live with the fact that there will be bad throws, maddening decisions and horrible interceptions. That’s just part of the Fitzpatrick package that isn’t going to magically change at age 38. When he’s at his best, the offense should be more competent than it was last season, but at his worst the interceptions can lose games. Whatever happens, it won’t be boring with Fitzpatrick under center.
Another great write up Mark. Thank you! I still can’t decide if I like this move or not but this write up sure helps me better understand.
Great write up. I love the signing. Will be more fun to watch this team. I would love to see Gibson get more work catching balls either out of the back field or spread out. I know the write up is on Fitz, but I can’t help to wonder WTF was SF doing playing man coverage on 3rd and goal from the 22 and leaving the outside receiver 1:1 with press coverage.
Humble request for another post. Would like to see your thoughts on the available Jacksons at CB.