Chargers Find Talks Chilling : Football: Contract negotiations with John Friesz are not close to producing an agreement, the team says.

On Day Two of training camp there were bounced passes, balls that fluttered and quacked and interceptions.

Yes, the Chargers need quarterback John Friesz, but no, they are not prepared to meet his contract proposals despite a new pitch from agent Leigh Steinberg.

Steinberg had been proposing a two-year contract designed to reward Friesz with $1 million in 1993, but in an effort to get Friesz on the field, he delivered a new one-year proposal to General Manager Bobby Beathard on Thursday.

It failed to prompt a positive response from the Chargers.

“I don’t think we’re close to an agreement on anything,” Beathard said. “I’ve expressed my feelings to them and they know our position.”

The Chargers reportedly have offered Friesz, who drew a base salary of $120,000 in 1991, a two-year contract with a base salary of $700,000 in 1992 and an additional raise in 1993.

The contract also allows for incentives such as $3,000 per start and additional money for each victory after the team wins its fourth game. The contract provides bonus money for making the playoffs, including a $100,000 payoff for the Super Bowl.

“In the event John does do what we hope, he has the opportunity to make ($1 million),” Beathard said.

The Chargers are not necessarily disturbed by Steinberg’s new money proposal, which is in the neighborhood of the team’s bid of $700,000 for 1992, but the club insists it must sign Friesz to at least a two-year deal.

“What Leigh is asking today is good; I’d be very happy with that,” Friesz said. “It’s quite a raise. But it’s the second year that’s the stickler.

“Next year I will be in my third year as a starting quarterback and I think I should be making close to average money, which is $1.5 million for quarterbacks. The Chargers aren’t even offering half of the average, and by next year the average money being paid to quarterbacks will probably be $2 million.

“I think Leigh has done a good job of thinking up new proposals and Bobby hasn’t come back with anything of his own. That’s the next step, waiting for Bobby to make some proposal to us.”

The Chargers are banking on Friesz as their big hope for success, but they also realize he is just beginning his career. Beathard has wrestled with this problem for several weeks.

He met with Steinberg earlier and offered Friesz $550,000 to sign. But after listening to Steinberg, he agreed to rethink his position, admitted he was wrong, and then moved the team’s offer to $700,000.

“Before we came back with that new figure we wanted to make sure we weren’t low and wrong again,” Beathard said. “We all agree in here that we’re at the figure now that is fair in every way.”

The pocket schedule jinx continues. In past years the team has placed the picture of Gary Anderson, Chip Banks and Marion Butts on their schedules. In each case, the player pictured has failed to report to camp on time. This year No. 17 is featured.

“It’s disappointing not having him here,” Beathard said. “It’s just two different camps and we’re trying to put him in the right area that’s fair for what he has done. I think it’s too early in his career for anybody to be paid as if he’s already done it.”

The Chargers, meanwhile, continue to prepare for the season with Bob Gagliano, Jeff Graham and Pat O’Hara at quarterback.

“John is clearly the No. 1 guy; there’s no question about that,” Coach Bobby Ross said. “I have no comment on the contract negotiations, but from a coaching standpoint, he needs to be here.

“We were 4-12 last year and there are a helluva lot of things that have to be done and every practice that people miss is significant for us. We’re not the Super Bowl champs. We’ve got to get out here and get some improvement. You don’t get better sitting at your home watching TV. I don’t care who it is. That’s the way I feel.”

In other training camp news:

--A representative for Pro Ex, a local group of sports agents, confirmed that it has a signed agreement with Junior Seau to represent the Charger linebacker. Seau previously had been represented by Steve Feldman.

--Don’t unpack those bags. After checking into their rooms, cornerback Cecil Doggette and wide receiver Greg Byrne were told they had been cut.

--Wide receiver Erik Affholter, a Plan B addition from Green Bay, has been released because of a knee injury and poor play in off-season workouts . . . Center Jarrod Johnson, who played in 10 games for the WLAF’s Sacramento Surge this year, suffered a dislocated kneecap in his first practice here and will undergo surgery.

--After watching his team’s initial workout, Ross said, “The intensity level was good, the effort level was good, but obviously we have a long ways to go on throwing and catching the football . . . We dropped the ball about six times and we laid the ball on the ground fumblewise three times. You just can’t do that.”