ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 21, 1996 TAG: 9612230148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ASHBURN
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON'S well-paid quarterback speaks out on his team and its fans.
Before what will almost certainly be his last game in a Washington Redskins uniform, Heath Shuler took a couple of parting shots.
Shuler, who has taken only one snap this year after losing the starting quarterback job to Gus Frerotte during training camp, said he wished the team had offered him more public support during his 13-day contract holdout after he was made the No.3 overall draft pick in 1994.
That holdout - and the resulting eight-year, $19.25-million contract - began Shuler's rocky relationship with the Washington fans, one that never improved because of Frerotte's emergence and Shuler's injuries and erratic play.
``I'd like to have had some help from other people in the organization,'' Shuler said. ``A lot was expected of me, though no one expected more from me than I did from myself. No fan, nor coach was more disappointed than I, but I don't think [the fans] realized how hard I was working and what I was doing to prepare myself.''
Asked if he should have had more support from coaches or from the public relations staff, Shuler said, ``Both. I'd like for someone to have taken a stand, but everybody was young in this thing.''
Coach Norv Turner and public relations director Mike McCall, a former Roanoke College sports information director, declined to comment.
Shuler also reiterated his previously stated contention that his holdout wasn't over money, but was due to the complexity of his contract and its viability under the league's salary cap. But general manager Charley Casserly has maintained that while the contract's intricacies played a part in delaying its completion, the amount of money involved also was a factor.
``I hired the best people in the business to do the contract and I was faulted for that,'' Shuler said. ``To make a long story short, [the league and the Redskins] are still looking at my contract. How does it affect the salary cap? I still think that today it's the best contract that's ever been written.''
The contract contains a provision that allows Shuler to void the final five years, which he is expected to do at the end of the season. The team then has an option to buy back the next two years for some $8 million, something that's not likely to happen because Turner has cast his lot with Frerotte.
That would leave Shuler a restricted free agent, eager to prove his worth with another NFL team.
``I'm ready to find out where I'm going to be next year,'' Shuler said. ``I'm still a first round draft pick. Unfortunately I didn't get to showcase my talent here. I'd like to have started my career here and ended it here, but that's not going to happen.''
Asked if he would accept a backup role somewhere, Shuler said, ``I'm not going to play backup to anybody.''
When asked if that even included backing up a quarterback likely to retire soon, such as Steve Young in San Francisco, Shuler said, ``Not unless they are going to give you starter money.''
In other Redskins news, team owner Jack Kent Cooke won't be attending Sunday's historic final game at RFK Stadium. Doctors have recommended the 84-year-old Cooke stay at home because of his osteoarthritis.
``Although he is recovering nicely, undergoing physical therapy for osteoarthritis, his doctors prefer he not attend the game,'' the team said in a release.
The final NFL game to be played at RFK Stadium matches Washington against the rival Dallas Cowboys. Next season, the team moves into a newer - and much larger - facility in suburban Landover, Md.
Cooke began to feel ill as he sat in the owner's box at RFK on Nov.10 during the Redskins' overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
He spent five days in Georgetown University Medical Center undergoing treatment for the degenerative arthritis condition.
In the team's statement, Cooke calls missing Sunday's game a ``sad and bitter disappointment,'' but adds, ``I will most certainly be on hand for the grand opening of the Redskins' new stadium.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Washington fans still haven't forgiven quarterbackby CNBHeath Shuler for his 13-day contract holdout, injuries and erratic
play. Shuler is hoping to prove himself to another NFL team. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL