During the Buffalo Bills' bye week, Ryan Fitzpatrick signed a six-year contract extension worth $59 million.
At the time, the Bills (5-5) had a 4-2 record, and Fitzpatrick had tossed 12 touchdowns to six interceptions. The 28-year-old (soon to be 29) was poised to become Buffalo's long-awaited franchise quarterback.
Since then, Fitzpatrick has thrown four touchdowns to eight interceptions. He recorded a 116.4 quarterback rating in Buffalo's post-bye victory over the Washington Redskins, but the team has lost three in a row since, and his rating has averaged below 50 in that stretch.
"The last three weeks have not been fun, obviously," Fitzpatrick said after Buffalo's most recent loss, a 35-8 stinker against the Miami Dolphins.
Fitzpatrick threw 23 touchdowns to 15 interceptions last season, amassing 3,000 yards. But the St. Louis Rams' seventh-round draft pick in 2005 hadn't done much else before that, getting passed along from the Rams to the Cincinnati Bengals to the Bills, while never really being considered a legitimate starter until 2010.
Buffalo, however, is now invested in Fitzpatrick ($24 million guaranteed), so only time will tell if he's just hitting a bump in the road or if the Bills were premature to name him the franchise guy.
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