Rick Mirer

Richard Franklin Mirer (born March 19, 1970) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. After a successful collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame, Mirer was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the second pick in the 1993 NFL Draft. Mirer was traded to the Chicago Bears during the off-season in 1997. Mirer was most recently the backup QB for the Detroit Lions in 2004. In his career, Mirer also played for the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, and Oakland Raiders. He now coaches football for Torrey Pines Pop Warner. He also owns and operates a winery in Napa Valley called Mirror Wine Company. A percentage of the proceeds from wine sales benefit his Mirer Family Foundation which assists children in need in his hometown of Goshen, Indiana and various groups around San Diego, California where he resides now.

Early years
Mirer was born in Goshen, Indiana. At age eight, he competed in the National Punt, Pass and Kick Competition. His father, Ken, was head coach at Goshen High School in Goshen, Indiana but retired before Mirer made the varsity team. Mirer posted 3973 yards and 30 touchdowns in his senior year, 2nd most in national prep history, and eclipsing Jeff George's Indiana High School passing records. Earned Academy of Achievement Award as the top high school football player in the country in 1989, along with being the winner of the Atlanta Touchdown Club's Bobby Dodd Award as the nation's best high school quarterback.

College career
Mirer attended the University of Notre Dame from 1989-1992 accumulating a 29-7-1 record as starter including 3 bowl games. He began his tenure serving as backup to Tony Rice, then took the reins of the Notre Dame offense in 1990 and lead the team to the Orange Bowl. In 1991, Mirer set the single season touchdown record with 18 and was named co-MVP with teammate Jerome Bettis leading Notre Dame past Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl. He finished his career at Notre Dame by leading them to victory in the 1993 Cotton Bowl Classic. Mirer accounted for more points running and throwing (350) than any other player in Notre Dame history. He left Notre Dame 1st in career touchdowns with 41 and 2nd all time for total offense, completions, and passing yards. Invited to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl, and Hula Bowl. Entering the 1993 Draft, he was hyped as the next Joe Montana. In 2008, Mirer was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.

NFL career
Mirer was selected with the second overall pick in the 1993 draft by the Seattle Seahawks. He signed a five year, $15 million contract. In his rookie year under head coach Tom Flores, he set all time NFL rookie records for attempts, completions & yards, and became only the 3rd rookie quarterback since 1970 to start all of his team's games. He finished his rookie season 5th in the AFC with 274 completions and 2833 yards. He was also runner up in the offensive rookie of the year voting, finishing behind his former backfield teammate from Notre Dame, Jerome Bettis. Those rookie records were eventually broken by Peyton Manning.

On February 18, 1997 Mirer was traded with a 4th round pick in the '97 draft to Chicago Bears for a 1st round draft pick. He signed a three-year, $11.4 million contract with Bears, but played only seven games with three starts in the 1997 season.

Mirer requested to be released by the Bears in the beginning of the 1998 season, and signed with the Green Bay Packers, who later traded him to the New York Jets in 1999, where he replaced an injured Vinny Testaverde as the Jets starter. After only winning 2 of his starts he was benched in favor of Ray Lucas. In 2001 he was signed by the San Francisco 49ers to compete with Jeff Garcia. In 2002, Mirer became the 3rd string quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, and became the starter for part of 2003. In 2004. Mirer was signed by the Detroit Lions, but saw no playing time.

Mirer never played a down for Green Bay, which was led by Brett Favre. On December 22, 2003, Mirer embraced former teammate, Favre, before a nationally-televised Monday Night Football game. Favre's father had died the previous day. Favre would lead the Packers to a 41-7 victory.

Statistics
24-44 record as regular season starter in twelve seasons in the NFL Career single game highs Attempts-43; completions-25; yards-287; touchdowns-3