The Miami Dolphins announced the signing of a former NFL quarterback who was a free agent after missing all of last season following back surgery. No, not Peyton Manning, the other one. David Garrard was in a very similar position to Manning – he sat out all of last season after being released by the Jacksonville Jaguars and having back surgery that took a good portion of last year to rehab from.
The Dolphins did pursue Manning as well as Matt Flynn and Alex Smith before finally signing Garrard to a one-year contract. Garrard will be given the opportunity to compete for the starting job with Matt Moore, who started 12 games last season for the Dolphins.
“They said it was going to be a competition,” Garrard said. “A healthy competition is great for everybody. That’s what was presented to me. I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
Moore completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 2,497 yards and a passer rating of 87.1 last season, and played admirably down the stretch leading Miami to 6 wins in their last 9 games after a dismal 0-7 start. Garrard’s last season in Jacksonville had similar numbers – he played 14 games in 2010 and completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 2,734 yards and a 90.8 passer rating. Although Garrard was 8-6 as a starter in 2010, and the Jags were 0-2 in the games he missed.
It should be a good competition, and either man is capable of leading the Dolphins to victory, particularly if their defense continues to play like it did in the second half of the season.
Some other highlights from Garrard in today’s press conference:
On how ready he is to get on the field and start playing: “I feel great. I’m 100 percent ready to roll. I feel like I’m back to myself if not better. I’m excited to be back in the game and get back on the field.”
On choosing the Dolphins instead of visiting the Rams: “Yeah, well the Rams kind of have a guy already in place there and not that I discounted being a solid backup somewhere. But with not being in my early years in my career, I want to give another shot of at least competing for a starting job. Be able to start somewhere else. I still have that ability.”
On still having to prove in the NFL: “Yeah, well I don’t think I have anything to prove. I think I’ve proved a lot of things as a starting quarterback, but I just want to go further than I’ve gone before. I want to go deeper in the playoffs. Get a taste, a shot at winning a championship. So those are things I want to prove to myself. I want to make sure that when my career is done that I poured everything I had into it. That was one thing I was thinking about all season last year when I was sitting home on the couch. Not knowing if I’ll get a chance to play again that I really didn’t empty my tank. I have a number of years of football left in me. I wanted to make sure that I left it all out there on the field. I leave this game with no questions on whether or not if I have anything left. That’s definitely fueling my purpose and getting to that championship glory. That’s the number one thing for me.”
On if the team said they would bring in the a third quarterback in the draft or elsewhere: “Yeah, they really didn’t talk much about it. I’m just sure like any other organization; they’re always looking at different positions so we’ll have to see with our coach and what (Jeff) Ireland have in store.”
