From an inauspicous beginning...
He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the
1994 draft. Earlier, much earlier, in that same draft, the Redskins had
selected Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler with the 3rd pick overall.
Gus Frerotte was picked 194 spots after Shuler; he was the 197th player
selected that year. Though he came from a losing squad at an unknown college
team, Redskins scouts thought he showed potential, maybe as a back-up to
Shuler.
to an unlikely hero...
No one could have predicted what happened next. What happened was that
young Shuler struggled in the starting position,
then suffered the first of a number of injuries. Based on his excellent
performance in practice, Norv then gave Gus his first
career start against the Indianapolis Colts. In that game, only the
second victory of the season for the struggling Redskins, Gus
shocked everybody. He threw for 2 TDs and 226 yards and, as a result,
was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
then back to the bench...?
Gus played in two more games that season, before handing the reins
back to the now-healthy Shuler. For the rest of the 1994
season, Gus was mostly forgotten as Shuler began to emerge as a playmaker
for the Redskins. It began to look like the
Redskins already had their QB - and that QB was not Gus Frerotte. Of
course not! Heath was, after all, the highly-paid
heralded draft pick who had been signed to lead the Redskins back to
a championship.
The 1995 preseason opened amidst controversy. That preseason, Gus threw
for four touchdowns and no interceptions, while
Heath Shuler threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Fans began clamoring
for Gus to start. However, Coach Norv
Turner quickly put all the speculation to rest by announcing once and
for all that Shuler would be the starter, period.
But maybe not...
It didn't quite pan out that way. In the first game of the season,
a home game against Arizona, Shuler took a hit and suffered
another injury, this time a separated shoulder. Gus was called in-
greeted with thunderous applause as he walked onto the field
at RFK. Once again, Gus played brilliantly, and the Redskins won.
For the first few weeks of the 1995 season, Gus put up excellent numbers.
In fact, he was the leading passer in the NFC for a
while, ahead of veterans like Aikman, Young, and Favre. However, the
team as a whole continued to struggle, a situation that
was exacerbated by a rash of injuries in the offensive line and receiving
corps. When Gus, too, went into a slump towards the
end of the season, Norv decided to give the job back to Shuler, who
also struggled. Shuler then suffered yet another injury in
the next-to-last game of the season, at which point the job was Frerotte's
by default. Gus finished the 1995 season with 13
TDs, 13 INTs, 2751 yards, and a QB rating of 70.2.
The bargain basement starting QB...
The following off-season, a number of trade rumors involving Gus circulated
for awhile. It was obvious that the young
seventh-rounder was an NFL quality QB, and a number of teams expressed
interest in acquiring his services. The city of
Washington was too big to hold Shuler and Frerotte, and it looked like
the Redskins would have to stick with Shuler, having
given him the big contract. However, perhaps himself skeptical of Shuler's
potential as the Redskins' starting QB, Coach Turner eventually decided
against trading Gus, thus setting the stage for yet another QB controversy
going in to the 1996 season.
In the 1996 training camp, Coach Turner declared open competition for
the QB position. Frerotte and Shuler alternated in the
preseason games, and their numbers were remarkably similar. However,
Shuler had a couple of key turnovers in the preseason, whereas Frerotte
had no turnovers. In a move that shocked Redskins observers everywhere,
Turner handed the $19.25 million Shuler a clipboard and sat him on the
bench. Gus Frerotte was now his quarterback.
And to the Pro Bowl...
Well, I'm not going to go into the 1996 season that wasn't. Suffice
it to say the Redskins started off 7-1, then won only 2 more games the
rest of the season to finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs. 'Nuff said about
that.
In 1996, Gus took every snap except one (Shuler stepped in, and he
and Shepherd promptly fumbled the exchange on a hand-off for a reverse).�
Gus' numbers were awesome at times and average at others.� The entire
team went into a slump the latter half of the season- the line couldn't
block, receivers dropped passes, Terry Allen's production dropped tremendously-
so of course Gus' numbers weren't stellar either. Nevertheless, he had
the second-lowest interception percent of all QB's in the league, threw
for 3453 yards, and was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate (quite a feat
for a young guy!)
He played an awesome Pro Bowl ( which is what prompted me to first
make this Web page).
Finally some monetary compensation!
The Washington Redskins now had their quarterback.� Heath Shuler
was traded to the New Orleans Saints for a fifth round pick in 1997 and
a third round draft pick in 1998.� The Redskins and Gus' agents began
negotiations for a long-term contract for Gus.� When it appeared that
negotiations might take longer than expected, Gus quickly agreed to sign
a one-year tender offer for only $1 million. (I can't believe I just used
the words "only" and "one million dollars" in the same sentence!!)�
Gus wanted to make sure he would be in for the full training camp- no holding
out on his part, even if meant less money than he rightfully deserved.
As it turned out, the Redskins and Gus' agent were able to negotiate a
4-year, $18 million contract. The fairy tale had finally come true- and
an emotional Gus expressed his thanks to the Redskins, the fans,
and, above all, his wife Ann.
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