Bills to Sign Flutie; Brown Goes Home

Quarterback Doug Flutie, who has failed in two attempts to play in the NFL, has agreed to a contract with the Buffalo Bills.

Bill spokesman Scott Berchtold said the team reached an agreement with Flutie late Friday afternoon. He will sign a contract sometime next week when he returns from a vacation in Hawaii.

The Buffalo News reported Friday that Flutie, 35, was to approve a two-year deal that would pay him a base salary of $300,000, the minimum for an NFL veteran, and a signing bonus of about $50,000.

Several incentive clauses--including individual statistical accomplishments and league-wide honors--could bring the total value of the contract as high as $5 million over two seasons, the newspaper reported.

The 5-foot-10 Flutie, the 1984 Heisman Trophy winner for Boston College and six-time MVP of the Canadian Football League, is due to return Monday. He failed in previous chances with Chicago and New England.

Bill Coach Wade Phillips told Flutie by telephone last weekend he would have a chance to compete for the No. 1 quarterback position, the newspaper reported.

The team is expected to acquire at least one more quarterback through free agency or the draft to go along with Flutie and holdovers Todd Collins and Alex Van Pelt. Third-stringer Jim Ballard will be sent to the World League of American Football.

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Reggie Brown appreciates the little things now.

“I asked a doctor how many people with my type of injury recover to my level,” Brown said. “He told me he could not calculate a number that small.

“I don’t take the small things for granted, like the little movements that I can do today that I couldn’t yesterday. I see so many people with my injury in wheelchairs or barely walking. I’m so appreciative.”

The former Detroit Lions linebacker smiled and joked with nurses and attendants as he prepared to leave The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research following a remarkable recovery from a serious spinal injury in a game against the New York Jets Dec. 21.

Brown, wearing a halo-type brace that secures his spine, finished his final physical therapy session and returned to his room to say goodbye to the staff.

Brown, 23, was injured in the fourth quarter of a season-ending victory over the Jets while assisting in a tackle of Adrian Murrell.

Brown lost consciousness on the field and the following day doctors performed surgery that fused the first and second vertebra in his neck, ending his playing career.

“The scariest part was on the field when I couldn’t breathe,” Brown said. “I felt my eyes closing and felt like I was going to sleep.”

He will continue rehabilitation in Austin and make one visit to Houston in about two months when the neck brace is to be removed.

Brown also plans to return to Texas A&M; to complete his final year and get a business degree. He then anticipates going into coaching.

He said doctors told him he would never be 100% recovered and that moving his head from side to side would be impaired by about 50%.

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The San Diego Chargers have talked to former Atlanta Falcon head coach June Jones about a job on their coaching staff, but no offer has been made, General Manager Bobby Beathard said.