The Facts: The last couple of years the Dolphins had Fitzpatrick as both a starter and backup and it would be easy to simply re-sign the pending unrestricted free agent and let him continue to mentor Tua Tagovailoa as he did in 2020. Except it's not quite that simple. Fitzpatrick believes he's played well enough the past couple of years to get a chance to at least compete for a starting job with some team. Obviously, that isn't the Dolphins because of their Tagovailoa commitment.

Diehards Line: While the door on Fitzpatrick returning is not totally closed, both sides are going to look around this offseason, Herald staffer Armando Salguero is told. The reason leaving Miami might be good for Fitzpatrick is he's thrown 33 touchdowns and 21 interceptions the past two years and he thinks he might get a chance to play some more this coming season. So the agent for Fitzpatrick is already shopping, apparently, even though the NFL's legal tampering period is not for another two weeks. Because according to Woody Paige of the Denver Gazette, Fitzpatrick has spoken with the Broncos. The Broncos are not sold on starter Drew Lock and are wisely looking to upgrade this offseason. But if the Broncos cannot come up with a definite upgrade to outright take the starting job, they might welcome a veteran, such as Fitzpatrick, to come in and compete with Lock for the job. Meanwhile, the Dolphins can eye players such as Tyrod Taylor, Jacoby Brissett, C.J. Beathard, and Brian Hoyer, among others as Tua's backup.