Rams Look for Head Start by Signing Quarterback Mike Pagel : Football: Team looks to former Cleveland Brown to fill extra roster spot should NFL decide to pass new rule.
Looking to jump the gun on a possible rule change, the Rams signed 30-year-old veteran quarterback Mike Pagel to a one-year deal Monday and suggested it was possible Pagel could compete with Chuck Long for the main backup spot this season.
Later this week, the NFL will decide whether to allow teams an extra active roster spot expressly for a third quarterback. Last year, the Rams kept only Jim Everett and Long.
Last week, the Rams worked out both Pagel--who started three games for the Cleveland Browns last year and 47 games in four seasons with Indianapolis--and 37-year-old Steve Grogan.
“We would’ve felt good about both men,” Ram Coach John Robinson said Monday. “Pagel is younger, probably offers more of a chance to be (the No. 2 quarterback), where Grogan would’ve clearly been the elder statesman, the (No. 3)-type guy.
“(Pagel)’s a long way from his career being finished, where Steve is into that one last hurrah stuff. . . . I would’ve felt comfortable with Steve, but Mike, I think it was (against) the 49ers he played last year and did a real good job (in a game the 49ers had to rally to win).”
Robinson said Pagel knows the team might not keep three quarterbacks if the extra quarterback rule fails to pass. But he added that it is not written in stone that Long will be handed the backup slot to Everett.
“What we’ve told (Pagel) is that early in preseason, Chuck is going to get a lot of reps and we’re going to play Chuck either all of or most of the Atlanta preseason game (the exhibition opener),” Robinson said. “That’s going to be Chuck’s game.
“Chuck’s been stuck because of injury and inactivity in not playing the last two years. So his career has kind of been in limbo. We want to get it started.
“So Chuck goes first, basically. And then if he’s not doing well or if . . . There’s competition but it is Chuck two, Mike three, Jim one.”
Pagel, who might’ve been able to draw serious interest from a number of teams if he had waited for the rule to pass, said he didn’t want to wait any longer than he had to before signing with somebody.
Known for his ability to escape pressure and for a strong arm, Pagel was protected in Plan B by the Browns, but was released days after the draft when the new coaching staff decided to go with younger players behind Bernie Kosar.
Pagel (6-feet-2, 220 pounds) was originally selected by the Colts in the fourth round of the 1982 draft and was traded to Cleveland for a ninth-round pick in 1986.
Dallas, Phoenix and Indianapolis gave Pagel tryouts recently, but only the Rams made an offer.
Pagel said he understands his role right now with the Rams isn’t exactly the most glamorous.
“It’s No. 3,” Pagel said. “If they decide not to keep that new 46th spot for a quarterback, then I have to go out and show them I’m worth keeping. So it’s not a bad situation.
“I’d love to be slated as the starter, but realistically that’s not going to happen many places across the league.”
Pagel thought about waiting to see if the rule was going to be adopted, but opted to take the contract in hand.
“You also look at it this way, a lot of teams will fill that third spot with a young guy, somebody that they can keep around for three or four or five years and let develop to eventually be their starter,” Pagel said. “So it was a possibility that it would increase the market for me, then again it might not.
“To wait around until September or August or October even to see what was going to happen was going to be kind of tough.”
Ram Notes
The Rams also signed safety Mike Babb, a free agent out of Weber State. . . . Fullback Buford McGee, who hurt his wrist in the final game of 1990, arrived at Rams Park on schedule Monday. He has a cast on his left hand and wrist and only participated in running drills. . . . The two-week minicamp will continue through Thursday.
