Rick Mirer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rick Mirer
Date of birth March 19, 1970
Place of birth Flag of United States Goshen, Indiana
Position(s) QB
College Notre Dame
NFL Draft 1993 / Round 1/ Pick 2
Career Highlights
Awards 1993 UPI AFC Offensive
Rooke of the Year
Stats
Statistics
Team(s)
1993-1996
1997
1998
1999
2000-2001
2002-2003
2004
Seattle Seahawks
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
New York Jets
San Francisco 49ers
Oakland Raiders
Detroit Lions

Rick F. Mirer (born March 19, 1970 in Goshen, Indiana) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. After a successful collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame, Mirer was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the second pick in the 1993 NFL Draft. Mirer never lived up to his expectations in Seattle and was traded to the Chicago Bears during the off-season in 1997. Mirer was most recently the backup QB for the Detroit Lions in 2004. In his career, Mirer also played for the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and Oakland Raiders. He remained unsigned after the 2004 season.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Mirer was born in Goshen, Indiana. At age eight, he competed in the National Punt, Pass and Kick Competition. His father, Ken, was head coach at Goshen High School in Goshen, Indiana but retired before Mirer made the varsity team. Mirer posted 3973 yards and 30 touchdowns in his senior year, 2nd most in national prep history, and eclipsing Jeff George's Indiana High School passing records. Earned Academy of Achievement Award as the top high school football player in the country in 1989, along with being the winner of the Atlanta Touchdown Club's Bobby Dodd Award as the nation's best high school quarterback.

[edit] College career

Mirer attended the University of Notre Dame from 1989-1992 accumulating a 29-7-1 record as starter including 3 bowl games. He began his tenure serving as backup to Tony Rice when Notre Dame won the national championship, then took the reins of the Notre Dame offense in 1990 and lead the team to the Orange Bowl. In 1991, Mirer set the single season touchdown record with 18 and was named co-MVP with teammate Jerome Bettis leading Notre Dame past Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl. He finished his career at Notre Dame by leading them to victory in the 1993 Cotton Bowl. Mirer accounted for more points running and throwing (350) than any other player in Notre Dame history. He left Notre Dame 1st in career touchdowns with 41 and 2nd all time for total offense, completions, and passing yards. Invited to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl, and Hula Bowl.

[edit] Statistics

Year Passing Rushing
Att Comp Yds TD Int Att Yds Avg TD
1989 30 15 180 0 1 12 32 2.6 0
1990 200 110 1,824 8 6 98 198 2.0 6
1991 234 132 2,117 18 10 75 306 4.0 9
1992 234 120 1,876 15 6 68 158 2.3 2
Total
698
377
5,997
41
23 253 694 2.7 17

[edit] NFL career

Mirer was selected with the second overall pick in the 1993 draft by the Seattle Seahawks, where he signed a five year, $15 million contract. In his rookie year, he set NFL rookie records for attempts, completions & yards, and became only the 3rd rookie quarterback since 1970 to start all of his teams games. He finished his rookie season 5th in the AFC with 274 completions and 2833 yards.

On February 18, 1997 Mirer was traded with a 4th round pick in the '97 draft to Chicago Bears for a 1st round draft pick. He signed a three-year, $11.4 million contract with Bears, but played sparingly in the 1997 season.

Mirer was cut by the Bears in the beginning of the 1998 season, and signed with the Green Bay Packers, who later traded him to the New York Jets in 1999, where he replaced an injured Vinny Testaverde as the Jets starter. He was released by the Jets at the end of the 1999 season, and was picked up by the San Francisco 49ers as a backup to Jeff Garcia. In 2002, Mirer became the 3rd string quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, and became the starter for part of 2003 after injuries to both Rich Gannon and Marques Tuiasosopo. In 2004. Mirer was signed as the third string quarterback by the Detroit Lions, but saw no playing time.

Mirer's hometown newspaper, The Goshen News, still hopes to someday run another "Mirer Meter" article, even if he has to play Arena Football.

[edit] Statistics

24-44 record as regular season starter in twelve seasons in the NFL Career single game highs Attempts-43; completions-25; yards-287; touchdowns-3

Year Passing Rushing
Att Comp Yds TD Int Att Yds Avg TD Team
1993 486 274 2,833 12 17 68 343 5.0 3 Seahawks
1994 381 195 2,151 11 7 34 153 4.5 0 Seahawks
1995 391 209 2,564 13 20 43 193 4.5 1 Seahawks
1996 265 136 1,546 5 12 33 191 5.8 2 Seahawks
1997 103 53 420 0 6 20 78 3.9 1 Bears
1998 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 Packers
1999 176 95 1,062 5 9 21 89 4.2 1 Jets
2000 20 10 126 1 0 3 0 0.0 0 49ers
2001 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 49ers
2002 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 Raiders
2003 221 116 1,267 3 5 20 183 4.2 1 Raiders
2004 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 Lions
Total
2,043
1,088
11,969
50
76 242 1,130 4.7 9 12 years

[edit] Quotes

“We want to win the Super Bowl and Mirer can be the guy who takes us there.Dave Wannstedt on the acquisition of Rick Mirer

“I love Chicago, I always will. But the year with the Bears and leaving the way I did-- they wanted me to go down in money and all that--it just wasn't worth it to me to stay somewhere where you are not developed the way you are supposed to be” Rick Mirer on his time with the Chicago Bears

“When they're giving up draft (pick), you've got to take advantage of that. I know that both of the young guys are limited in snaps, but we feel extremely good about them and this is the direction we're going to go” Packers Head Coach Ray Rhodes on his decision to trade Rick Mirer to the Jets and gamble on unproven Matt Hasselbeck and Aaron Brooks


Preceded by
Tony Rice
Notre Dame Starting Quarterbacks
1990-1992
Succeeded by
Kevin McDougle
Preceded by
Stan Gelbaugh
Seattle Seahawks Starting Quarterbacks
1993-1996
Succeeded by
Warren Moon
Preceded by
Dave Krieg
Chicago Bears Starting Quarterbacks
1997
Succeeded by
Erik Kramer
In other languages