Friesz-Out Ends With 2-Year Deal : Chargers: Quarterback ends holdout by signing incentive-laden contract.

Although his golf game was improving daily, Charger quarterback John Friesz acknowledged the need to start working on his chosen profession. So he signed a two-year deal Monday afternoon.

The contract will pay Friesz $700,000 this season and give him the opportunity to earn $1 million in 1993 with incentives. Friesz, a sixth-round pick from the University of Idaho in 1990, earned a base salary of $120,000 in 1991, his second year with the Chargers.

“I’m very happy with it,” Friesz said. “It’s something that will take me to a different level. I’ll hopefully help my family, get a house, be able to help my school (Idaho) and my high school (Coeur d’Alene).”

In addition, the Chargers announced they have come to terms with offensive lineman David Richards--leaving nose tackle Joe Phillips as the team’s lone holdout. Terms for Richards were not disclosed.

Originally, Friesz and his agent, Leigh Steinberg, had asked for a one-year contract. But Friesz said the “new concepts” Beathard introduced Sunday made a two-year deal acceptable.

“The Chargers did a good job of bending,” Friesz said. “I bent quite a bit, but that was part of the process. They have been very fair in what they have done, and now it’s my job to solidify what they did do and prove them correct.”

Said Beathard: “We bent some. The main thing is that both sides are happy. Each of us feels it’s the right thing for John.”

Friesz said many of the new concepts Beathard introduced involved not just his performance, but also the team’s.

“One of the main differences was the amount of wins the club gets,” he said. “They were insistent upon that and that sits very well with me. I didn’t win last year, but that’s something I’ve always been proud of over the years, to be a winning quarterback.”

Steinberg called Beathard “a master of incentives” and said the second year is loaded with them.

“By playing, by playing and winning, by playing and being statistically strong, he can earn more,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg didn’t specify what “statistically strong” entailed, but he said Friesz could activate the incentive clauses with “quarterback play consistent with being a good young starter.”

Friesz started all 16 games last year and led the Chargers to a 4-12 season. He completed 53.8% of his passes with 12 touchdown and 15 interceptions. His quarterback rating of 67.1 was 14th and last among AFC quarterbacks and 28th out of 31 among NFL quarterbacks.

Also included in the deal was a performance clause for this season. Steinberg said a productive 1992 season for Friesz could trigger a different base salary for 1993.

Steinberg said the new package Beathard presented made it easier to live with a two-year contract.

“We were worried about getting locked in place at numbers in an ever-changing quarterback market,” Steinberg said. “Numbers that might not stand the test of time. In any multiple-year contract, you’re trying to prevent tomorrow’s conflict from occurring. The way they’ve structured the contract, tomorrow’s conflict will not occur.”

After missing 11 days of practices, Friesz will be in uniform at this afternoon’s practice.

“The concept of time played into it,” Friesz said. “I didn’t want it to get to the point where it jeopardized any of portion of the season, even the preseason. Now there’s enough time to get ready and to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully, I won’t miss a beat.”

Said Steinberg: “Part of what changed our mind is that Bobby gave John his chance last year. It’s going to be the same general manager, the same owner, the same system next year. At this particular point in time, to create a confrontation that locks John out of camp just doesn’t make sense. The real story here is John’s progression as a quarterback.”

Still, Steinberg said his client held out 11 days for a worthwhile cause.

“The NFL system is set up so that John was a free agent,” Steinberg said. “Unlike in other sports, there’s no salary arbitration. There’s only the ability to come to camp or to sign a contract. It’s not as if you can go in and practice while you don’t have a contract.”

Had the communication process been better, Steinberg said Friesz could have been in camp earlier. But Steinberg had other unsigned players that also required attention.

“I sure would have liked to come down a few days earlier,” he said. “There’s something about meeting with somebody face to face, especially with somebody you admire a lot.”

Friesz is asking people not to expect too much at first.

“The people that have followed me closely in the two years I’ve been here know that my first day is always bad,” he said. “I’m a person that can get rusty and then get out of it quickly.”

Apparently his golf swing isn’t very rusty these days. He shot a 75 last weekend at Steele Canyon golf course.

In addition to setting up a scholarship fund for his college and high school, Friesz will also give $2,000 to Children’s Hospitals in San Diego for every victory.

Bob Gagliano welcomed Plummer back by tossing him an interception in the morning seven-on-seven drill.

“Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then,” Plummer said.

After the interception, Leslie O’Neal brought Plummer back to reality when he shouted: “Wake up, Plummer!”

Plummer said he’s come into camp in the best shape of his life.

“I bought a treadmill this year that does about five miles an hour faster than the one they have here,” he said. “I’ve had a few teammates up there who ended up laying out on my garage floor because it was a little tougher than they thought it was going to be. They challenged me and called me ‘old man.’ These were young bucks who thought they were going to run the old guy into the ground.”

Wide receiver Shawn Jefferson slightly strained a hamstring in the afternoon practice. Coach Bobby Ross said he expects Jefferson to miss a day or two of practice.

Does the signing of Friesz mean the end for one of the backups, Gagliano, Pat O’Hara or Jeff Graham?

“I’m not in any hurry to make that (decision) right now,” Ross said.