By JOSEPH KELLARD
³Jay flew down and spent a practice with [head coach] John Gruden and had dinner with him, and his agent Brian Levy negotiated whatever they had to and he signed with Tampa,² said Ken Fiedler of Oceanside, Jay¹s father, from his Brookwoods Camps in Glen Spey, New York on Monday.
Fiedler became a free agent in February after the Jets released him to cut salary cap costs, and the Bucs picked him up after losing Luke McCown, their No. 2 quarterback, to a season-ending knee injury. Fiedler will compete with the Bucs¹ two other quarterbacks, Bruce Gradkowski and Tim Ratty, who is slated to earn $1.25 million this year and may be released.
Fiedler tore a labrum and damaged biceps tendons in his right shoulder in the Jets¹ 26-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sept. 25. He continues to recover from the injury, and is expected to start practicing once the Bucs¹ training camp opens late this month.
³Every day I go out there and throw, it feels a little bit better,² Fiedler said. ³I¹m throwing three, four times a week right now, hoping to get to a point where I¹m throwing it every day pretty soon, working up the strength and getting the range of motion back.²
At 6 feet 2 and 225 pounds, Fiedler, 34, a former All-County quarterback at Oceanside High School, was the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins from 2000 to 2004 after starting his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings and the Jaguars. When the Dolphins released him last year, the Jets signed him in March to a five-year contract that included a $1.3 million guarantee and a $500,000 signing bonus.
³I think Tampa is a good situation for Jay,² Ken Fiedler said. ³John Gruden is an offensive-minded coach. He was Jay¹s position coach in Philadelphia, and I think that¹s a positive. Jay¹s been around for 10 years and Gruden knows him.²
