Frank Gore and Ryan Fitzpatrick are retiring from the NFL. While Gore signed a one-day contract with the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday and won his professional boxing debut with a knockout in May, NFL Network has reported that Fitzpatrick could be headed for the broadcast booth.
Fitzpatrick started for an NFL-record nine teams in 17 seasons. In 2015, the journeyman QB discovered some Fitzmagic with the Jets, throwing for 3,905 yards and 31 TDs. After putting themselves in a playoff position at 10-5, Fitzpatrick and the Jets lost a 22-17 game at Buffalo in the final week in Game 16 as the postseason proved elusive. He re-signed with the club before the team's 2016 training camp, but the Jets couldn't duplicate their success as he went 3-8 as a starter and finished with 2,710 yards passing with 12 TDs and 17 INTs.
"I've been real happy just in being here," Fitzpatrick said the days leading up to the 2015 season finale in Buffalo. "The organization is top notch. I don't know if I had an opinion one way or the other before I got here, but the way that the players are treated, as Brandon (Marshall) said in his quote, everybody in the building just works so hard and does a great job. It's definitely a first-class organization."
In 2020, Gore played his 16th and final season with the Jets, rushing for a team-leading 653 yards. Gore's 100th TD came during the Jets' 23-20 upset at the Rams on Dec. 20, 2020. Playing in 15 games, Gore was part of a team that finished 2-14 and ended up finishing second in the draft order. With that No. 2 overall pick the following spring, the Green & White selected BYU QB Zach Wilson.
"When they [the Jets] decided on me, let's be real, my age, you had some doubts," Gore said to reporters. "Let's be real. I would have had doubts, too, I'm not going to lie. I had a great time here. These young guys, they worked their behinds off."
A third-round pick of the 49ers in 2005, Gore played 10 seasons in San Francisco before finishing his football career with the Colts (2015-17), Dolphins (2018), Bills (2019) and Jets in 2020. His 16,000 rush yards and 19,985 scrimmage yards both rank third in the NFL. His 1-yard plunge against in the win over the Rams was the 100th and final TD of his career.
Fitzpatrick, a seventh-round pick out of Harvard in 2005, is one of only 30 QBs in NFL history with 34,000-plus passing yards (34,990) and 220-plus pass TDs (223).
