By Joe Kellard
Fiedler signed a five-year contract with the New York Jets March 11 that included a $1.3 million guarantee and a $500,000 signing bonus. The signing came two weeks after the Miami Dolphins released him.
''I'm excited," said Fiedler, who as a boy cheered on Jets quarterbacks Richard Todd, Ken O'Brien and Pat Ryan, in an interview with the Miami Herald and NFL.com. "My career has come full circle now. This is going to be my 10th NFL season and my fifth team. I'm finally making it back home."
"It's a happy day for Oceanside and a happy day for the Jets," Fiedler's father, Ken, said from his Oceanside home last Friday.
Prior to meeting with the Jets at their Hempstead complex at Hofstra last Thursday, Fielder flew to Chicago to talk with the Bears, and he also met with the New York Giants.
"The Jets wanted him the most, and he felt most comfortable here," said Ken, a former championship-winning basketball coach at Springfield Gardens High School. "The head coach and general manager were really terrific. [Executive Vice President and General Manager] Terry Bradway made him very comfortable."
"Jay is a veteran who has competed in the postseason and gives our offense depth," Bradway said in a statement.
The Jets had expressed interested in signing Fiedler as a starter or backup, since starting quarterback Chad Pennington is sidelined until June with a rotator cuff injury and backup Quincy Carter was released. A 6-foot-2, 225-pound former All-County quarterback at Oceanside High, Fiedler is expected to back Pennington up while third-year quarterback Brooks Bollinger develops as a third-stringer.
"My mindset is that I've got to be ready to play at all times," Fiedler said. "Even when I started out in this league as a third-string guy, I always prepared myself every week to be a starter. That's never going to change for me. As a backup, you know you're one hit away from getting out on the field. I have to be ready."
Fiedler, 33, who had the thankless task of stepping in as Miami's starting quarterback for five years after Hall of Famer Dan Marino retired in 2000, was cut by new coach Nick Saban as part of an ongoing effort to clear more than $17 million from the Dolphins' payroll and get Miami under the league's salary cap. The team saved $6.2 million with Fiedler's departure.
"The coach [Dave Wannstedt] that wanted him down there left, and the new guy came in and didn't want him," Ken Fiedler said. "And that's the business. But when the Jets play the Dolphins and Jay comes in and throws five touchdown passes, he'll realize then he made a mistake."
Fiedler led the Dolphins to the playoffs in his first two years with the team. During his career in Miami, he notched a 36-23 record as a starter, passed for 11,040 yards and threw for 66 touchdown and 63 interceptions. In 2004, when the Dolphins went 4-12, he started just seven games, suffering a herniated disc that put him on the injured reserved list.
At Oceanside High, Fiedler earned All-County honors in both football and basketball and lettered in track as well. At Dartmouth he was the starting quarterback from 1991 to 1993, compiling a 21-7-1 record and setting career passing records with 456 completions, 813 attempts, 6,684 yards and 58 touchdowns. In 1994, he entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent, signing with the Philadelphia Eagles and earning a spot as a third-stringer. But he never played a down, and had to wait a few years before doing so.
In 1996, after the Eagles waived him, the Cincinnati Bengals picked Fiedler up, but released him in summer training camp. He played for the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL's World League in the spring of 1997, but no NFL team signed him that season. So he went to Hofstra to be an assistant coach, mentoring quarterback Giovanni Carmazzi, who later signed with the San Francisco 49ers.
In 1998, Frank Luisi, an English teacher who was Fiedler's head coach at OHS, wrote letters to every team in the NFL and sent a highlight video of Fiedler along with each of them. In his recommendation letter, Luisi described Fiedler as "the finest football player and quarterback and human being I have known or seen in 25 years of coaching."
Dennis Green, then the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, heeded Luisi's words and brought Fiedler to training camp. But the Oceansider was released before the season. When Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson was injured, however, Fiedler was re-signed and played briefly in five regular-season games. He completed his first NFL pass to Randy Moss for 10 yards. Fiedler then signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1999. His first NFL touchdown pass came against the Cleveland Browns, when he replaced injured starter Mark Brunell and tossed an eight-yarder to tight end Kyle Brady, a former Jet.
Oddly, the last game of Marino's career, a second-round playoff match against the Jaguars, turned into a 67-7 Jacksonville rout in which Fiedler relieved Brunell and threw two touchdowns.
As often happens when a quarterback replaces a legend like Marino, Fiedler faced considerable criticism from fans during the rocky times. But he was reportedly always well-respected and popular with his Dolphins teammates. "Yeah, it was up and down," Fiedler said about his career in Miami. "But, you know, I had a great situation down there. You know, it was really my first chance as a starter in this league. I gave it my all every year. I think we had a lot of success, especially in the first four years - this past year aside."
Ken noted that his son's familiarity with the Jets - as a Dolphin and an AFC East rival, he faced them twice a year - factored into his decision to sign with New York, as did playing for his once favorite team. "I think it's a good situation with the Jets," Ken said. "I'm happy, and his mother [Donna] is certainly happy."
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