After agreeing to terms with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent late Monday night, Dartmouth quarterback Jay Fiedler '94 will sign a two-year contract tonight at a mini-camp in Philadelphia, Pa.
Fiedler will receive a $5,000 signing bonus, and will have a first-year salary of $108,000 and a second-year salary of $135,000. The contract is not guaranteed, meaning Fiedler first has to make the team.
"It feels great," Fiedler said in a telephone interview from his home in Oceanside, N.Y. "I knew the interest was there beforehand, but it's a great feeling."
He was not selected in the final rounds of Monday's seven-round National Football League draft. But Fiedler said after the draft ended, the phone started ringing.
Fiedler said Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay all offered him contracts, but he decided to go with the Eagles because "my future would be better there ... they have two older veterans, and they don't know how long they'll be in the league," he said.
Barring a trade, Randall Cunninghman, 31, is the Eagles' starter, and Bubby Brister, 29, is their backup. Fiedler will fight with Preston Jones for the third-string position.
"I'm very excited," Fiedler said. "They're both great quarterbacks that I could learn from. Hopefully in the future I can move up on the depth chart."
Eagles Director of Pro Scouting Tom Gamble told the Valley News that Fiedler has a good chance of making the team.
"He's a heck of a prospect ... The ball is in his court, and he'll have an opportunity to show what he can do," Gamble said. "There's a legitimate opportunity here, and we've got a good football player."
Fiedler's agent Brian Levy said Fiedler chose the Eagles because they were the team that sounded most interested on Monday night.
"I think the interest is very sincere," Levy said. "It was obvious that we were their first choice."
Levy said Fiedler was tempted to go to Cincinnati because of the strong Dartmouth connections - David Shula '81 coaches the Bengals - but decided he had a better chance of making the Eagles.
Levy, who has known Fiedler since Fiedler was three years old, said he has no doubts that Fiedler will make the Eagles.
"Jay is an NFL player," he said. "There's is no questioning Jay's ability and no questioning his heart."
Fiedler was not drafted because teams were filling other holes created by free agency, Levy said. He said there was a "drop" instead of a "run" on quarterbacks.
Fiedler said he was disappointed that he was not drafted, but not overly so. He said Kansas City called during the draft and led him to believe they were going to pick him, but didn't.
After the draft was over, Fiedler handled a flurry of phone calls from coaches and scouts around the country.
"We were going wild taking calls from all the other coaches," Fiedler said. "It was almost like college recruiting all over again, but the process is speeded up."
Levy said Fiedler agreed to terms with the Eagles six hours after the draft ended, late Monday night.
Philadelphia lost many players to free agency this year, so Fiedler said he was not surprised that he wasn't taken by the Eagles in the draft. He said he had his best workout for the Eagles earlier this year.
Fiedler's Ivy League arch-rival Keith Elias from Princeton University, agreed to terms with the New York Giants, one of the Eagles' arch-rivals. Fiedler said he hoped both he and Elias make their respective teams to "continue the rivalry."
Fiedler will go to mini-camp this weekend to get acclimated to the program and meet the Eagles' coaches and then return to school. After graduation, he will head off to training camp.
Fiedler holds almost every Dartmouth football record. He led the Big Green to two Ivy League titles and a second-place finish in his three years as a starter and was named Ivy League Player of the Year his junior year.
