It sounds like Ryan Fitzpatrick is a long shot to return in 2021

The Washington Football Team is at a crossroads at the quarterback position.

With no viable long-term option available via trade, free agency or the draft — though Mac Jones was technically there for the taking if Washington traded up — Ron Rivera turned to Ryan Fitzpatrick as the 2021 placeholder.

Fans understood the move at the time and they collectively hoped that Fitzpatrick’s gunslinger style of play would help open up an offense that ranked 30th in passing yards per game and 29th in passing touchdowns.

Unfortunately, those dreams were crushed, along with Fitzpatrick’s hip (too soon?), in the second quarter of Week 1 against the Chargers.

An MRI revealed a hip subluxation for the veteran QB, who was supposed to miss between 8-10 weeks with the injury. A few weeks ago, we were given an update on Fitzpatrick’s recovery and it was anything but encouraging.

Per the report, Fitzpatrick’s hip was taking longer than expected to heal and he was still walking around the facility with crutches. As a result, the team wanted to undergo a follow-up MRI to rule out a potential setback.

While Fitz avoided the worst, there’s still hardly been any progress.

It doesn’t sound like Washington Football Team quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will return this season.

Here’s what Rivera told the media on Tuesday.

"“There is some progress. Unfortunately, it’s not way up there, but it’s progress,”“He’ll continue to work his rehab stuff and he’ll be re-evaluated soon. I’m not sure when. But the nice thing is there is progress and he’s shown some positive signs, but I’ve been given no timetable.”"

The aforementioned report from two weeks ago indicated that Fitzpatrick was still “weeks away” from returning. It sounds like that was an optimistic point of view, because the 38-year-old isn’t anywhere close to being cleared to practice. It really makes you wonder if he should have opted for surgery over letting the subluxation heal on its own, because he’s blown pass the initial timetable.

The worst part is Rivera hasn’t even been given a timetable. In other words, Fitzpatrick, one of the toughest guys in the NFL, is still in a great deal of pain.

We hate to come off like defeatists, but fans can likely all but rule out a November return for the 17-year pro. If his rehab extends into December, would there really be a point in bringing him back? Especially if Washington is challenging for a potential top-five pick in the 2022 draft? Probably not.

We were hopeful that Fitzpatrick would reclaim the starting job after the Week 9 bye (that’s what we were told would happen).

Unfortunately, that turned out to be a pipe dream and it’s probably time to open the debate of whether he’s played his last snap for the team. If this is, in fact, the end of the road for Fitz in Ashburn, it lasted all but four drives.

What a disaster.