NFL Rumors: Ryan Fitzpatrick Contract Leak A Retaliation For Eric Decker Protest

The Ryan Fitzpatrick contract leak from over the weekend has added a new level of intrigue to the standoff between the two sides that has lasted almost three months already.

As reported by Newsday, the NY Jets supposedly have an offer on the table for three years with $12 million in guaranteed money in year one. That number is a far cry from the supposed $7 – $8 million dollars that was previously floated around as the supposed offer the Jets were willing to spend.

“Despite reports that they have offered about $7 million or $8 million a year, their $12-million offer for 2016 is almost four times what Fitzpatrick earned last season ($3.25 million) after his trade from the Houston Texans,” the article pointed out. “And indications are it’s been on the table since March.”

Recently, Fitzpatrick went on record congratulating the Jets for keeping figures out of the media during the negotiations despite the fact he reiterated he wanted to re-sign with the team and hadn’t been able to do so yet. So why all of a sudden did this new report leak detailing specific figures that otherwise had gone unreleased up until this point? And which side is responsible for doing so?

ESPN Jets blogger Rich Cimini thinks he knows the answer in his latest column.

“The battle has gone public, and the tipping point may have been the Eric Decker-Brandon Marshall no-show at Wednesday’s open practice,” Cimini wrote suggesting that the protest made by Decker prompted the release of the contract offer.

“You can bet some folks at One Jets Drive took note of the fact that Decker and Fitzpatrick are represented by the same agency, CAA. Decker is a Fitzpatrick loyalist, but it also struck some as an orchestrated negotiating tactic.”

Cimini went on to explain that by releasing the contract figures, Ryan went from hero in this story to goat, with the Jets organization now painted as the good guys for having gone above and beyond what was previously speculated on.

“Fitzpatrick’s public-relations momentum was short-lived. On Friday, he was cast in some circles as ‘the greedy athlete’ amid reports that he has been sitting for months on a three-year offer that would pay him $12 million in the first year, squashing the perception of the low-balling Jets. So much for a peaceful negotiation.”

As reported by the NY Post, Eric Decker skipped voluntary OTAs last week prompting many to believe, as Cimini intimated, that it was a tactical ploy to support his friend in Fitzpatrick.

Gary Myers of the NY Daily News thought that Decker’s decision to support his comrade was something to be praised.

“His decision to boycott the Jets OTAs this week, reportedly in support of Ryan Fitzpatrick, his buddy who’s been low balled by the Jets the last four months, is a show of loyalty rarely seen in a league where players care about four things: Me, myself and I — and $.”

But ultimately, that decision could end up hurting Fitzpatrick in the long term if a deal can’t be reached because of bad blood now boiling between the two sides, as Connor Hughes of The Jets Wire pointed out on Twitter.

Said it yesterday, proven today: Gonna get ugly now that media’s involved in Fitz contract talks

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) May 29, 2016

However, not all is lost for Ryan Fitzpatrick. After the initial report of $12 million guaranteed surfaced Friday, the rest of the contract details have also now emerged, via Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports.

I was told #Jets offer to Ryan Fitzpatrick was 3-yrs $24 mil. $12 mil yr 1, avg of $6 mil per final 2. Starter $ yr 1, then elite backup $.

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) May 29, 2016

With training camp still months away, the Ryan Fitzpatrick, NY Jets standoff has only just begun to heat up.

[Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images]