Ryan Fitzpatrick, the journeyman quarterback who retired from the NFL earlier this month, is joining Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” coverage in 2022.
Fitzpatrick will appear as an analyst on the platform’s pregame show. Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream the NFL’s Thursday games for the first time next season.
“Amazon jumped out at me,” Fitzpatrick, 39, told the New York Post, “in terms of it is something that’s fresh and new. It just made a lot of sense of what I was trying to get into.”
Fitzpatrick played 166 games, starting 147, for nine different teams in his 17-year playing career. He has thrown for 34,990 yards and 223 touchdowns with 169 interceptions.
He played only 16 snaps last season for the now-Washington Commanders, his ninth NFL team. He completed 3 of 6 passes for 13 yards before suffering a hip subluxation in the second quarter of the season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. He underwent arthroscopic surgery and did not play the rest of the season.
Also this month, Amazon confirmed that cornerback Richard Sherman will be an analyst for its pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. Sherman has not retired from his playing career, telling the NFL Network that he was “still leaving that door open as long as I can.”
Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit were previously revealed as the play-by-play and commentary team. Herbstreit will remain in his college football roles at ESPN while adding Amazon to his resume. Michaels agreed to an “emeritus” role at NBC Sports, but Thursday games will be his main role in the 2022 season.
Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who has worked for CBS and Fox, will also be a part of Amazon’s first foray into football.
–Field Level Media
