A. J. Feeley

Adam Joshua Feeley (born May 16, 1977) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fifth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football for the University of Oregon.

He was also a member of the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, and Carolina Panthers.

Early career

Feeley played high school football at Ontario High School as a quarterback in Ontario, Oregon. In four years, he passed for 5,428 yards and 59 touchdowns.^[1] In addition to football, he played baseball and basketball.^[2] He opted, however, to play college football for the Oregon Ducks.

College career

Feeley was a four-year letterman at Oregon, and saw most of his playing time in his sophomore and junior years. He was a nominee for the Davey O'Brien Award^[3] as a junior, throwing for 1,951 yards and 14 touchdowns before being sidelined with an elbow injury. However, during most of his senior year, he was a backup to starter Joey Harrington, who was drafted third overall by the Detroit Lions in 2002.

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

Feeley was selected in the fifth round with the 155th overall pick of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. He spent his rookie year in Philadelphia as the third string quarterback, backing up Donovan McNabb and Koy Detmer. In the season finale of his rookie season, Feeley came off the bench in the fourth quarter and threw two touchdown passes in a 26-second span to bring Philadelphia back from a 13-3 deficit, and win the game by a score of 17-13.^[4]

The following season, after McNabb and Detmer went down with injuries, the 8-3 Eagles called on Feeley to preserve the team's Super Bowl aspirations. Feeley surprisingly helped lead the Eagles to four straight wins, and secured the number one seed in the playoffs.^[5]

With McNabb playing the entire 2003 season injury-free, Feeley was not called upon and did not take a single snap during the season. However, he showed enough in the previous two seasons to garner interest around the league.

Miami Dolphins

Feeley was traded to the Miami Dolphins in March 2004 in exchange for Miami's 2005 second round pick (used by Philadelphia to select wide receiver Reggie Brown).^[6] Feeley was set to compete for the Dolphins' starting quarterback job with Jay Fiedler. After the competition, he and Fiedler traded starts throughout the season.

The Dolphins season was considered a disaster.^[7] Their star running back Ricky Williams retired prior to the season after a failed drug test, and head coach Dave Wannstedt resigned from the team following a 1-9 start. Feeley would under-perform as well; in 11 games, Feeley threw 11 touchdowns against 15 interceptions, for a 61.7 quarterback rating.

Feeley would help produce a few bright spots on the year. Following the 1-9 start to enter their bye week, Feeley was given the start in the next six games, going 3-3 (the Dolphins would finish with a 4-12 record) and showing signs of improvement as a starter.^[8] Though two of those wins came against the lowly Browns and 49ers, on December 20, 2004, Feeley's 2-11 Dolphins upset the 12-1 Patriots on Monday Night Football, in a game that has become known as "The Night That Courage Wore Orange." With the Dolphins trailing by 11 with just 3:59 to play, Feeley guided the team to two late scores, including a game-winning touchdown to Derrius Thompson to upset the defending Super Bowl champions.^[9] The game was significant, as the 14-2 Patriots would miss out on homefield advantage throughout the playoffs against the 15-1 Steelers. It was also the last time the Patriots would lose that season, en route to another Super Bowl championship.

Due to his strong play to end the season, Feeley was named the starting quarterback going into the season by new coach Nick Saban.^[10] However, Gus Frerotte was instead named the starter.^[11]

San Diego Chargers

Feeley was traded to the San Diego Chargers midway through the 2005 season in exchange for Cleo Lemon. As the third-string quarterback behind Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, he did not play the entire season.

Feeley with the Eagles in 2008

Return to Philadelphia

Feeley was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles on August 30, 2006 shortly after being released by the Chargers. When McNabb was injured for the season on November 18, 2006, there was speculation that the more youthful Feeley might be named as the new starting quarterback, but head coach Andy Reid went with Jeff Garcia, who led the Eagles to a late-season turnaround and division title. Feeley did play most of the Eagles' regular season finale against the Atlanta Falcons, leading the team to victory with 321 passing yards and three touchdown passes, preventing the Falcons from securing a wild card berth.

With Garcia and Feeley both becoming free agents at the end of the season, Feeley signed a three-year contract extension with the Eagles on February 25, 2007. Despite Garcia's success from the previous season, the Eagles viewed Feeley as a better long-term backup because of his age, familiarity of the system, and fit in the locker room.^[12]

Starting in place of an injured Donovan McNabb on November 25, Feeley threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions in a 31-28 game loss to the then-undefeated New England Patriots. The 10-0 Patriots had beaten opponents by an average of 25 points, and the Eagles entered the game as the largest underdogs in NFL history.^[13] On December 2, Feeley played again for the injured McNabb.^[14] He threw four interceptions,^[15] three of those to Lofa Tatupu in a 28-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.^[15]

Feeley was released by the Eagles on September 6, 2009, to make room for Michael Vick.^[16]

Carolina Panthers

Feeley drew interest from the Packers and Patriots,^[17] but signed with the Carolina Panthers on September 15, 2009.^[18]

St. Louis Rams

On March 5, 2010, Feeley agreed to a two-year contract with the St. Louis Rams.^[19][20] Although he was in competition for the starting job, #1 pick Sam Bradford won the starting job in the preseason. During the 2011 regular season, Feeley replaced an injured Bradford for three games and he led the Rams to a stunning upset of the New Orleans Saints on October 30. It was the first win of the season for St. Louis which entered the game with a 0-6 record.

Personal life

In 2010, Feeley married U.S. women's international soccer player Heather Mitts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.^[21][22] They currently reside in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On January 30, 2014, the couple gave birth to a baby boy, Connor William Feeley.^[23] and a daughter, Blake Harper, in spring 2016.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to A. J. Feeley.

• A.J. Feeley at ESPN.com
• St. Louis Rams bio
• A.J. Feeley's career stats at Pro-Football-Reference.com