The 4 projected starting quarterbacks in the NFC East are set for 2021

In technical terms, Monday was only the beginning of the tampering period in the National Football League. The i’s cannot be dotted nor can the t’s be crossed until Wednesday when the New League Year officially begins.

Of course, that is all a bit silly as deals are agreed to at a rapid pace once the tampering is technically allowed, such is life in the NFL. Many different teams were busy adding talent to their rosters in hopes of building a Super Bowl contender. The Dallas Cowboys kept it chill as they usually do on day one of free agency. Stay up to date on all of their moves with the official BTB free agency tracker.

While the Cowboys weren’t exactly active the good news is that neither were any of their division foes. It is often said that teams are built in order to win their division and on paper the Cowboys are considered the favorite in the NFC East at this point.

The Cowboys made the biggest stride in this quest last week when they took care of one of their own, quarterback Dak Prescott. They are now not the only team to technically bring in a free agent quarterback, the reigning division champions have a new signal-caller too.

The Washington Football Team is bringing in Ryan Fitzpatrick as the expected starter at quarterback

One of the brighter stories in the NFL last season was the resurgence of the Miami Dolphins. While Brian Flores’ squad did not make the playoffs they did show the merits of “tanking” to build a proper unit, they figure to be competitors for the foreseeable future.

Miami drafted Tua Tagovailoa in the first round last year but chose to begin the season with veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick under center. Fitzmagic won four of his seven starts and had a heroic moment near the end of the season as he completed a clutch pass against the Las Vegas Raiders with his facemask being yanked. He will always have a touch of “what the heck just happened?!” to his game.

Whatever it is that has kept the Harvard-educated quarterback going for all of these years is now something that the Dallas Cowboys will have to deal with. On Monday night it was reported that Fitzpatrick is joining the Washington Football Team on a one-year deal worth $10M that could be worth up to $12M with incentives.

There is no denying that Fitzpatrick’s ceiling is a sight to behold in the NFL, but his career has shown that the other shoe ultimately drops at one point or another. Washington are the reigning NFC East Champions and partly so thanks to the play of another veteran, Alex Smith. While the quarterback market has already been buzzing this offseason, Washington’s draft position doesn’t exactly make it easy for them to find a stable future at the game’s most important position.

Sure, Fitzpatrick can compete with Taylor Heinicke for playing time in Washington, but ultimately the franchise is just treading water there. In hindsight it worked out great for the Cowboys that Washington won the division and is stuck in quarterback purgatory, the worst place for an NFL franchise to be, especially one with a roster otherwise ready to compete.