Rams News

Rypien makes hard choice
for more money with Falcons
04/01 08:56 PM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Leave it to classy Mark Rypien to beat himself up over taking the better offer.
``Obviously, the scenario for everyone is greed -- greed for money,'' Rypien said. ``I guess I'm in that boat now, too.''
Rypien needn't apologize. He agreed to a contract offer from Atlanta that will pay him $1.8 million over two years, with a signing bonus believed to be around $400,000. The Rams were prepared to pay him about $550,000 on a one-year deal with a significantly lower signing bonus.
But besides the substantially better money, Rypien has a much better chance for playing time in Atlanta. In 10 NFL seasons with six clubs, injury-plagued Chris Chandler has yet to play a full 16-game schedule. Only four times has he played more than 12 games in a season.
``Chris is a guy that's been banged up a little bit,'' Rypien said Wednesday, from his home in Post Falls, Idaho. ``When he plays, obviously, his numbers show that he's one of the best in the game. But he hasn't always been healthy on Sundays.''
Besides Chandler, the only other quarterback on the Falcons' roster is unproven Tony Graziani. In St. Louis, Rypien would have competed with Will Furrer for the No. 2 job this training camp behind durable Tony Banks, who has made 29 consecutive starts.
Rypien didn't get much of a chance to play last season, and at age 35, still thinks he has something to offer as a player.
``I was more of an insurance policy and a good guy in the locker room,'' Rypien said. ``There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of teams need that. But also, I think teams are looking at what a Boomer Esiason did last year, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon.''
In Atlanta, Rypien will be reunited with quarterbacks coach Jack Burns, who coached receivers in Washington from 1989 to 1991 when Rypien was with the Redskins. Former Rams coach Rich Brooks is the Falcons' defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
But he leaves St. Louis with no hard feelings this time -- unlike the bitter contract dispute after the '95 season. That led him to Philadelphia for part of the '96 season, only to rejoin the Rams in '97. Rypien got nothing but support from the franchise last season when his 2-year-old son Andrew underwent surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor.
``The Rams organization -- I couldn't be any happier with the way they took care of my family and I last year through the situation,'' Rypien said. ``Coach (Dick) Vermeil and everyone.''
Which made accepting the Falcons' offer all the more difficult.
``That's the hard part with me,'' Rypien said. ``I am a human being, and I do have feelings, and that's kind of what kills you. You feel you're kind of obligated in a way to people who went out of their way during a crisis situation. . . . I'm just one that doesn't feel very comfortable (about this).''
Rypien felt his rapport with Banks and Furrer ``was tremendous.'' He acknowledged offensive coordinator Jerry Rhome, once again, as a big influence on his career. (While an assistant at Washington, Rhome helped bring Rypien into the NFL.)
Rypien said he made some new friends last year, as well, citing assistant coaches Peter Guinta and Carl Hairston among others. He was looking forward to working with Mike White, who is Rams quarterbacks coach this season.
``All those guys, they're good people,'' Rypien said. ``Just the fact that I won't see those guys every day will be something I'll sorely miss.''
Rypien is scheduled to arrive in Atlanta on Monday to take a physical. He's also trying to line up hospital and medical care for Andrew, who continues his battle with cancer. Andrew underwent a second surgical procedure on March 23.
``They found another growth . . . and they removed it,'' Rypien said. ``And they did a procedure involving what they call radiation seeds. They glue them actually into the tumor bed. They send off radiation for 87 days, and have the least amount of side effects that can be given through radiation.''
Rypien reports that Andrew is doing well through it all, and is excited about one fringe benefit of moving to Atlanta.
``Disneyworld's only an hour (flight) away,'' Rypien said. ``Andrew hasn't been there yet, so we said first chance we get. . . . ''

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