Spring Break
Unproven Feeley not yet deserving of exorbitant contract
Call Me the Swami
Mark Gress, Jr.
Issue date: 2/27/04 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
A beauty for a girlfriend, a five-year, $18 million contract with the Dolphins, moving to Miami and seeing your beauty in swimsuits all of the time and your own sports talk radio show. Former Eagles' third-string quarterback A.J. Feeley has it all. All for doing what?
Some say he has gotten the most out of nothing than anyone in the sporting world. He isn't the star. He wasn't even a star's backup.
He was the backup's backup. He was the understudy's understudy.
Feeley came to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001 after a disappointing career at the University of Oregon. When he came here, the Eagles were pretty set at the quarterback position with Donovan McNabb slated as the starter and Koy "Grizzly Adams" Detmer right behind him on the depth chart as the backup.
Feeley hardly saw any action in 2001 besides the pre-season games in August. Even then, he was sharing time with Tim Hassleback. But then, in 2002, he made his NFL debut versus the San Francisco 49ers.
Donovan McNabb had been injured the week before versus the Arizona Cardinals and a lot attention had been shifted to Koy Detmer whose only job was to keep this team afloat until McNabb returned.
Koy got hurt in the second quarter and in stepped the man behind the man, behind the man, Feeley. He went on to win that game and finished his and the Eagles' regular season play with a 4-1 record - not bad for a third-string quarterback. He kept the Eagles afloat which is all the team asked him to do.
He was good, but not great. He threw six touchdown passes and five interceptions. Not exactly Pro Bowl numbers, but it was good enough at the time.
So let's break it down. Since he joined the NFL, he has been cut and has been put on the practice squad a few times. He only entered a real game after the two people in front of him were torn limb from limb. When he did play against a solid, veteran defense, in his fifth game of the 2002 season, he lost to the New York Giants.
What usually happens to third-stringers in such hard-nosed, Philadelphia town? Apparently they are fully embraced. Literally. Not too long after coming to Philly, Feeley courted soccer queen Heather Mitts and has since been dating her.
Besides trying to keep his mitts off Mitts (that's illegal in soccer), Feeley also had a radio segment with Anthony "The Cuz" Gargano, on 610 WIP. After every game, Feeley and Gargano answered callers questions and recapped what happened the day before. I guess there wasn't a better man to get to talk about the games since he watched each and every second from the sidelines.
As Feeley headed into this past off-season, the Eagles looked and listened for all offers for him. Nothing. It was as quiet as the Daskalakis Athletic Center squash courts.
There were no offers of a draft pick or even a bag of potato chips.
Another season gone by with Feeley only snaps coming during practices and on dates with Mitts. So does anyone need a solid backup quarterback? Sadly, no. Oh wait!
The Miami Dolphins need a quarterback, a starting quarterback at that. Unofficially, Feeley is the Dolphins new starting quarterback. In return, the Eagles surprisingly got a second round draft pick in 2005. And what do you expect a somewhat unproven quarterback to get in terms of a contract?
A few hundred thousand, or maybe a couple million dollars, right? How about a five-year, $18 million contract? Ridiculous. Unbelievably ridiculous.
Only if I could get something out of my long snapping high school football days. What's that? Mike Bartrum is planning on retiring?
Mark Gress is a pre-junior majoring in sports management. He's excited that Feeley left town, because now he can get his "mitts" on Heather.
Some say he has gotten the most out of nothing than anyone in the sporting world. He isn't the star. He wasn't even a star's backup.
He was the backup's backup. He was the understudy's understudy.
Feeley came to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001 after a disappointing career at the University of Oregon. When he came here, the Eagles were pretty set at the quarterback position with Donovan McNabb slated as the starter and Koy "Grizzly Adams" Detmer right behind him on the depth chart as the backup.
Feeley hardly saw any action in 2001 besides the pre-season games in August. Even then, he was sharing time with Tim Hassleback. But then, in 2002, he made his NFL debut versus the San Francisco 49ers.
Donovan McNabb had been injured the week before versus the Arizona Cardinals and a lot attention had been shifted to Koy Detmer whose only job was to keep this team afloat until McNabb returned.
Koy got hurt in the second quarter and in stepped the man behind the man, behind the man, Feeley. He went on to win that game and finished his and the Eagles' regular season play with a 4-1 record - not bad for a third-string quarterback. He kept the Eagles afloat which is all the team asked him to do.
He was good, but not great. He threw six touchdown passes and five interceptions. Not exactly Pro Bowl numbers, but it was good enough at the time.
So let's break it down. Since he joined the NFL, he has been cut and has been put on the practice squad a few times. He only entered a real game after the two people in front of him were torn limb from limb. When he did play against a solid, veteran defense, in his fifth game of the 2002 season, he lost to the New York Giants.
What usually happens to third-stringers in such hard-nosed, Philadelphia town? Apparently they are fully embraced. Literally. Not too long after coming to Philly, Feeley courted soccer queen Heather Mitts and has since been dating her.
Besides trying to keep his mitts off Mitts (that's illegal in soccer), Feeley also had a radio segment with Anthony "The Cuz" Gargano, on 610 WIP. After every game, Feeley and Gargano answered callers questions and recapped what happened the day before. I guess there wasn't a better man to get to talk about the games since he watched each and every second from the sidelines.
As Feeley headed into this past off-season, the Eagles looked and listened for all offers for him. Nothing. It was as quiet as the Daskalakis Athletic Center squash courts.
There were no offers of a draft pick or even a bag of potato chips.
Another season gone by with Feeley only snaps coming during practices and on dates with Mitts. So does anyone need a solid backup quarterback? Sadly, no. Oh wait!
The Miami Dolphins need a quarterback, a starting quarterback at that. Unofficially, Feeley is the Dolphins new starting quarterback. In return, the Eagles surprisingly got a second round draft pick in 2005. And what do you expect a somewhat unproven quarterback to get in terms of a contract?
A few hundred thousand, or maybe a couple million dollars, right? How about a five-year, $18 million contract? Ridiculous. Unbelievably ridiculous.
Only if I could get something out of my long snapping high school football days. What's that? Mike Bartrum is planning on retiring?
Mark Gress is a pre-junior majoring in sports management. He's excited that Feeley left town, because now he can get his "mitts" on Heather.
