Rams News

Cut is painful to QB Furrer
08/25 08:32 PM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch

You show up for work Tuesday morning and learn you are out of a job.
You trudge back home to tell your wife; your newborn daughter and 18-month-old son are too young to understand.
And did we mention the job would have paid $350,000 this year?
Welcome to Will Furrer's world.
Furrer became the odd man out in the Rams quarterback derby, when he was among five players released by the team in Tuesday's mandatory roster cutdown to 60 players.
Furrer took the news with class and without bitterness.
``Kelli and I are just at home counting our blessings,'' Furrer said, in reference to his wife. ``We had a beautiful baby girl two weeks ago, and Mark Rypien's son passed away three days ago.
``So you've got to put things in perspective. Losing a job is one thing, but we have a lot to be thankful for. It's not the end of the world, that's for sure.''
But it is the end of his 18-month stay in St. Louis. Last season, Furrer beat out Jamie Martin for the No. 3 quarterback job. This season, Furrer lost out to Steve Bono and Kurt Warner for the Nos. 2 and 3 jobs.
``It's a tough business,'' Furrer said. ``It was Coach (Dick) Vermeil's decision, and I respect his decision. It would have been great to have been on the same team a couple years in a row.''
That's a luxury Furrer has yet to experience in the NFL. He was with Chicago in '92, Arizona in '93, Denver in '94, Houston in '95, and then out of football in '96. Through all of those stops, Furrer has thrown only 124 regular-season passes and started two games.
Furrer didn't play a down last season for the Rams and hasn't thrown a regular-season pass since 1995. But for a while this spring, it looked like he had a real chance to be the club's No. 2 quarterback. He signed a two-year, $825,000 contract on March 10, which included a $50,000 signing bonus. Less than a month later, last year's top backup, Rypien, signed with Atlanta.
But then Steve Bono dropped into the Rams' laps in a quick-developing trade with the Green Bay Packers, meaning Furrer faced another roster battle.
``The decision was to keep Bono over Furrer,'' Vermeil said Tuesday. ``Warner wasn't really part of that equation.''
In the end, Furrer's superior knowledge at running the offense wasn't enough to overcome Bono's sizeable edge in NFL game experience. ``There's a lot of things that Will Furrer does well,'' Vermeil said. ``The only thing he didn't get was a good enough opportunity, probably.''
And Vermeil concedes he was partly to blame for that.
Vermeil originally planned to start Furrer against Dallas in last weekend's preseason game at the Trans World Dome. But Vermeil switched gears, saying, ``I had to give (Tony) Banks some work.''
Furrer completed 20 of 35 passes this preseason, for 212 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. One of the interceptions was a fluke when the ball bounced off a referee at San Diego.
``I'm happy with the way that I performed in the preseason,'' Furrer said. ``I can live with the effort I put into being a St. Louis Ram. So I'm not ashamed, and I'm not resentful. . . . But I'm a little sad. I enjoy St. Louis. I thought that I had a lot to offer. I'm going to miss by friends on the team.''
The Rams also cut center David Kempfert and defensive end Corey Sears on Tuesday. Waived with injury settlements were linebackers Daryl Bush (knee) and Muadianvita Kazadi (biceps). Kazadi was a sixth-round draft pick in 1997.

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