Fitzpatrick is betting favorite to lead NFL in interceptions originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Throughout his soon-to-be 17-year NFL career, Ryan Fitzpatrick has developed a reputation as one of the sport’s biggest risk-takers. It’s a major reason why despite the fact that he’s put up big numbers in the past, his knack for turning the ball over has largely prevented him from staying with one franchise long-term.
Fitzpatrick signed with Washington on a one-year deal this offseason, the ninth team of his career. He’ll have the chance to be the Week 1 starter with the Burgundy and Gold. There’s no Tua Tagovailoa situation in Washington, either, meaning he won’t have to constantly be looking over his shoulder like how he did in Miami.
Even with some of the best job security of his career, sportsbooks aren’t too high on Fitzpatrick’s ability to limit the turnovers in Washington. According to PointsBet USA, Washington’s signal-caller is tied with Carolina’s Sam Darnold and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger as the betting favorites to lead the NFL in interceptions.
All three passers have 8-to-1 (+800) odds to lead the NFL in picks. The next highest odds belong to new Lions signal-caller Jared Goff, who has 10-to-1 odds (+1000) to be the sport’s interceptions leader.
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It shouldn’t be a surprise that Fitzpatrick has good odds to lead the NFL in interceptions. He’s thrown more interceptions in his career (169) than games played (165) and has previously led the NFL in interceptions before in 2011.
However, Fitzpatrick has also played some of the best football of his career over the past two seasons. In his last 16 starts, the veteran has thrown for nearly 4,500 yards with 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
That’s a major upgrade from the QB play Washington received over its last 16 games and a stat line many people inside the team’s Ashburn headquarters would take in 2021. While Fitzpatrick is by no means the perfect quarterback, he should certainly be a much-needed upgrade over the four passers the team trotted out last fall.
In two preseason games, Fitzpatrick-led drives have yet to find the end zone for Washington. But, he has been able to move the ball downfield and has not thrown any interceptions, either. The veteran quarterback isn’t worried about the team’s early struggles, as he believes the unit will be ready to roll come Sept. 12 vs. the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I don’t really put much stock into it,” Fitzpatrick said. “When we get into the season, we’re going to rely more on certain playmakers, we’re going to have certain schemes. There’s just different things we’ll do. It’d be nice to be able to do some of that stuff in the preseason but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal right now.”
Odds provided by our partner, PointsBet USATune into NBC Sports Washington at 5 PM on Saturday for Washington Football Kickoff Live starts as the WFT takes on the Baltimore Ravens in their final preseason game.
