Ryan Fitzpatrick & Wife Liza Barber Have 7 Kids

Liza Barber

Getty Ryan Fitzpatrick pictured with wife Liza Barber at the 2016 premiere of "Batman vs. Superman."

Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and his wife, Liza Barber, have a busy life. When Ryan is not running the Dolphins offense, he still has plenty to do with the couple’s seven kids. Ryan’s family made news during the offseason when the quarterback noted his dad bod was tied to his children’s birthday parties.

As Ryan suits up for his eighth NFL team, the couple’s journey has been anything but traditional. Ryan ended up proposing to Liza at a McDonald’s as he detailed the story to the Los Angeles Times.

We drove by all these fancy places. I asked her if she wanted to grab some dinner and sit by the lake. It was November, and she was like ‘Why would I do that? It’s freezing outside!’ All she wanted was McDonald’s. My relationship with my wife, and knowing her, it was just the perfect setting.


Ryan Blamed His Offseason Weight Gain on His Kids’ Birthday Cakes

When you have seven kids, it seems like there is always a birthday around the corner. When Ryan attended the Dolphins’ offseason workouts with a few added pounds, the veteran quarterback blamed a string of kids birthday parties for his new dad bod. Ryan claimed to be in “peak offseason form,” per Sports Illustrated.

“The thing with me is I have seven kids,” Fitzpatrick noted to Sports Illustrated back in April. “In January we have three birthdays. So we’ve got the family birthday party which includes cake, we’ve got the friends birthday party which includes cake, so that’s six times in January. We’ve got three birthdays in March–March 1, March 6, March 11–which again, that’s a tough stretch. So that’s six in 10 or 11 days. Then we’ve got an April birthday, so it doesn’t slow down. But now that the birthdays are behind me, I think I’m going to try and go from peak offseason form to peak in-season form.”


The Couple Welcomed Their 7th Child, Jake, in 2019

Earlier this year, the couple welcomed the newest addition to their family. Jake is the seventh Fitzpatrick child and the proud father recently had a chance to show him off to his former teammates with the Bucs during the preseason. The Tampa Bay Times reported in August that Ryan’s family still lived in Tampa Bay, but it unclear if this remains the case now that he is the starter in Miami.

After practice, Winston and Fitzpatrick talked for a while. Fitzpatrick introduced him to his seventh child, Jake. His family has remained in Tampa for now.


Ryan Has Alternated With Josh Rosen as the Dolphins Starting Quarterback

It has been a bumpy ride for both Ryan and the Dolphins this season. Miami is winless heading into Week 8 and the team has played musical quarterbacks throughout the season.

Ryan and Josh Rosen have both been the Dolphins starting quarterback this season. Despite going from promoted to demoted to back to being promoted again, Ryan feels like he is the best person for the job as he explained to ESPN.

I’m the perfect man for the job, because I’ve been through it, I have zero ego, and all I want to do is go out there and win. I want to bring an energy. I want what I’m doing out there to be infectious to other guys. We have a lot of young guys that haven’t really played much at this level, and we have some guys that are a year or two into it. But I want to be that ‘stable guy’ that they can look to when things get a little shaky, and I’ve been in this situation a lot before. It’s something that I embrace. I’ve had a different career than a lot of different quarterbacks, but this has been a career that I’ve loved and a position that I like being in.