The Fitzpatrick signing is pretty simple, you can't simply tank a full season and throw a guy like Ruddock out there all season and expect the franchise to respond positively. That's not how you build a winner. Fitzpatrick is likable, respected by his teammates and a veteran presence.
If we really wanted to truly tank the season (talking 0-2 wins) Bortles would've been the best move. But really, I think that would've hurt the culture. There has to be some legitimacy to the plan entering the season. At the end of the day if Flores can't win more than 4 games, even with a bad roster, he probably isn't the answer.
Another thing lost on this whole tanking thing, tanking in the sense of winning the Tua sweepstakes is having a plan with only one outcome seldom works. Tua can go back to school, Tua can get injured, or you can win 3 games instead of 2 and pick 2nd. Then what? Wasted a year of development, haven't started building a culture based around any sort of positive progress and you're looking at your second choice you could've lined yourself up for winning 5 games and building some semblance of an organization structure.
I'm all for this retool. Think it's the way you build a team for sustained success and stockpiling as many assets and being bad for a year is the best approach. But there's a balance between a full-blown tank and wasting the year, and I think bringing a guy like Fitzpatrick has a positive influence on that, even if we look a bit better in the W/L column come season's end.
