Making all the Right Moves

Quarterback Jay Fiedler 94 finally has his chance to start in the National Football League.

SOMEHOW IT NEVER WORKS OUT quite the way you imagine. You work your entire adult life for something, sacrifice all that is normal and logical just to reach a goal that's barely on the viable side of impossible. When the moment of triumph comes, there ought to be some sign—trumpet flourishes, fireworks, something. Instead, there was unemployed quarterback Jay Fiedler, puttering around his Jacksonville, Florida, condominium at 10:30 last February 16, an otherwise forgettable Wednesday morning. He was within minutes of leaving for the airport, and he was not exactly relishing the thought of a visit and tryout with the woeful Chicago Bears. As he halfheartedly threw a few clothes in an overnight bag, the phone rang.

On the other end, Fiedler heard the voice of his agent, Brian Levy: "Jay, I think we've got a deal with Miami."

Fiedler summed up his thoughts in three words: "Get it done."

He didn't need to bother to add: Get it done now. Fiedler had visited the Miami Dolphins two days before and was instantly smitten. The Dolphins had a new coaching staff under Dave Wanndstedt, a passing-friendly offense and, most important, an opening at the starting quarterback position now that the legendary Dan Marino had finally announced his retirement. Fiedler was just coming off a breakthrough year as the Jacksonville Jaguars' No. 2 quarterback, and the Jaguars wanted him back. But, at age 28, Fiedler had already been everywhere from Minnesota to Amsterdam in his quest to become a starter in the National Football League, and he had no interest in being branded a career backup. The Dolphins, he felt, were "a perfect fit." As Levy put it, "They had him at hello."

Within a few hours, Fiedler was a Dolphin. He signed a three-year, $3.8 million contract laden with bonuses and incentives for performance. Both sides were pleased: The Dolphins got ayoung, talented quarterback on the cheap (by NFL standards), and Fiedler, a one-time NFL castoff, got all he ever wanted—a chance to compete for a starting job.

Later that evening, Fiedler shared his news with Gregg Frame '94, who had been friends with Fiedler since their sophomore year and was more than fa miliar with every step and misstep of his six-year professional football career. 'As I see it, you've got 3.8 million reasons to be happy," Frame gushed. "No," Fiedler replied. "I've got one."

And if you don't know what the one reason is, if you don't understand how improbable this whole thing is, go back a few years to another February day this one in 1994. Fiedler was hosting a few Philadelphia Eagles scouts for a private workout in Leverone Field House that day. The fact that Fiedler was Dartmouth's all-time leading passer meant exactly nothing to them. To them, he was a borderline NFL prospect from a small college known better for keg taps than quarterbacks. Still, Fiedler completed pass after pass under Leverone's humming fluorescent lights, impressing the scouts with his arm strength, accuracy and mobility. The Eagles didn't draft him. But they extended an invitation to their training camp, where he beat out two other hopefuls to become the Eagles' third-string quarterback.

Fiedler stayed with Philadelphia two years, running the scout team during the week and holding a clipboard on Sunday. He never took a single snap during a game. Then the Eagles, who wanted to make room for a younger player, cut him a month before the start of the 1996 season. "He never got a chance in Philly," says Jays father, Ken. "He could have stood on his head and whistled 'Dixie' and it wouldn't have mattered." Fiedler hooked on with the Cincinnati Bengals for a tryout, but they cut him, too. No other teams were interested. It seemed Fiedler's fun ride in the NFL was over.

Friends consoled him by pointing out that at least he had an engineering degree to fall back on and applauded him for sticking it out for two years. "It would have been real easy for him to pack it in, and no one was going to fault him," Frame says. But Fiedler had no intention of hanging up his cleats. He went back home to Oceanside, New York, moved in with his parents and began the lonely task of readying himself for a second chance. But would it come?

"He's not the type of kid who gives up that easy," Ken Fiedler says. "We just kept telling him: If this is what you want, you go for it. Don't have regrets. This is not a family of wouldas and couldas and shouldas."

He became an assistant coach at Hofstra University—annual salary: $1,000—mostly so he could use the team's workout facilities. He sat out the 1996 season, barely able to watch pro football on television because it reminded him he wasn't there. In 1997 he played for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe but still couldn't attract the interest of any stateside teams. The following winter, Fiedler came to a crossroads.

"At that point, I had been out of the league for two years and I had been working my butt off to get back in. Things just hadn't worked out," Fiedler says. "I sent a highlight film to all 30 teams with a letter from my high school coach. That was really my last gasp effort. If that didn't work, I was going to retire."

Only the Minnesota Vikings responded. However, that was the only opening Fiedler needed. He got cut, but when another quarterback was injured two weeks later the team called Fiedler immediately. Another injury made him the No. 2 guy. He even got into his first game, relieving Randall Cunningham in the late stages of a blowout. That was enough to get other teams interested in Fiedler, and when he landed the second string job in Jacksonville last season, it led to more opportunity—including his first NFL start, on January 2 of this year, when he torched Cincinnati for 317 passing yards. Even more fortuitously, he stepped in during the second half of a playoff thrashing of Miami and completed 7 of 11 passes for 172 yards.

Suddenly, Fiedler wasn't such a wellkept secret anymore. He was on his way. The first day NFL teams could shop for free agents in February, there were a handful of teams interested in Fiedler. The former undrafted Ivy Leaguer, the guy who had been cut by three teams and spent two years out of the league, was in demand. "It's almost an impossibility when you think about what the odds against him were," Levy says. "Jay hasn't exactly taken the most direct route to get here. He exceeded everybody's expectations but his own." Well, almost everybody's. "If you know Jay, it's not unbelievable," Dartmouth coach John Lyons says. "He was a great, great competitor while he was here. I'm not surprised by anything he does."

Nothing is surprising now, anyway. He and Damon Huard are being given an equal chance to fill Marino's giant shoes. If anything, Fiedler is considered a slight favorite, since Miami's offense is similar to Jacksonville's and since he was the pick of the new coaching staff to come in and compete for it.

"Since I left college, I've been working toward one thing," Fiedler says. "Really, I've been playing football for 20 years now and it's all been for one reason: the chance to start in the NFL."

His chance has finally arrived.

Day of the Dolphin "Over the lastcouple years, I've gotten theconfidence I can play in this league,"says Fiedler.

BRAD PARKS '96 is asportswriter for The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey.