View source for Rick Mirer

{{Short description|American football player (born 1970)}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name        = Rick Mirer
| number      = 3, 13
| position    = [[Quarterback]]
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1970|3|19}}
| birth_place = [[Goshen, Indiana]], U.S.
| height_ft   = 6
| height_in   = 2
| weight_lb   = 210
| high_school = [[Goshen High School (Indiana)|Goshen (IND)]]
| college     = [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame]]
| draftyear   = 1993
| draftround  = 1
| draftpick   = 2
| pastteams   =
* [[Seattle Seahawks]] ({{NFL Year|1993|1996}})
* [[Chicago Bears]] ({{NFL Year|1997}})
* [[Green Bay Packers]] ({{NFL Year|1998}})
* [[New York Jets]] ({{NFL Year|1999}})
* [[San Francisco 49ers]] ({{NFL Year|2000|2001}})
* [[History of the Oakland Raiders|Oakland Raiders]] ({{NFL Year|2002|2003}})
* [[Detroit Lions]] ({{NFL Year|2004}})
| highlights  =
* [[List of NFL Rookie of the Year awards#NFC winners (1970–1996)|UPI Rookie of the Year]] (1993)
* [[PFWA All-Rookie Team]] ([[PFWA All-Rookie Team#1993|1993]])
* [[Touchdown Club of Columbus#Kellen Moore Award|Quarterback of the Year]] (1992)
| statlabel1  = Passing attempts
| statvalue1  = 2,043
| statlabel2  = Passing completions
| statvalue2  = 1,088
| statlabel3  = Completion percentage
| statvalue3  = 53.3
| statlabel4  = [[Touchdown|TD]]–[[Interception|INT]]
| statvalue4  = 50–76
| statlabel5  = Passing yards
| statvalue5  = 11,969
| statlabel6  = [[Passer rating]]
| statvalue6  = 63.5
| pfr         = MireRi00 
}}

'''Richard Franklin Mirer''' (born March 19, 1970) is an American former professional [[American football|football]] player who was a [[quarterback]] for 12 seasons in the [[National Football League]] (NFL). He played [[college football]] for the [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame Fighting Irish]] and was selected by the [[Seattle Seahawks]] with the [[List of second overall NFL draft picks|second overall pick]] of the [[1993 NFL draft]].<ref name="nytimes2002">{{Cite news |date=March 24, 2002 |title=Quarterback Mirer Goes to Raiders |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/24/sports/plus-pro-football-quarterback-mirer-goes-to-raiders.html?ref=rick_mirer |access-date=August 23, 2010 |work=[[New York Times]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> In his first season, Mirer set the rookie records for passing yards, attempts, and completions. Unable to duplicate his success, however, Mirer was traded after four seasons to the [[Chicago Bears]]. He spent the remainder of his career with the [[New York Jets]], [[San Francisco 49ers]], [[History of the Oakland Raiders|Oakland Raiders]], and [[Detroit Lions]], mostly as a backup.

==Early life==
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 (Indiana)|Goshen High School]] in Goshen, Indiana but retired before Mirer made the varsity team. Mirer posted 3,973 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 to 1992, accumulating a 29–7–1 record as starter – including 3 bowl games. He began his tenure serving as backup to [[Tony Rice (American football)|Tony Rice]], then took the reins of the Notre Dame offense in 1990 and led 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; he was invited to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl, and [[Hula Bowl]]. Entering the 1993 Draft, he was hyped as the next [[Joe Montana]], who also played college football at Notre Dame and was similar in stature. In 2008, Mirer was inducted into the [[Indiana Football Hall of Fame]].

===College statistics===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="17" style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Notre Dame Fighting Irish}}" |Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|-
! rowspan="2" |Season
! rowspan="2" |Team
! colspan="2" |Games
! colspan="8" |Passing
! colspan="4" |Rushing
|-
!GP
!GS
!Cmp
!Att
!Pct
!Yds
!Avg
!TD
!Int
!Rate
!Att
!Yds
!Avg
!TD
|-
![[1989 NCAA Division I FBS football season|1989]]
![[1989 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|Notre Dame]]
|10
|1
|15
|30
|50.0
|456
|6.0
|0
|1
|93.7
|12
|32
|2.6
|0
|-
![[1990 NCAA Division I FBS football season|1990]]
![[1990 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|Notre Dame]]
|12
|9
|110
|200
|55.0
|1,824
|9.1
|8
|6
|138.8
|98
|198
|2.0
|6
|-
![[1991 NCAA Division I FBS football season|1991]]
![[1991 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|Notre Dame]]
|'''13'''
|'''13'''
|132
|234
|56.4
|2,117
|9.0
|18
|10
|149.2
|75
|306
|4.0
|9
|-
![[1992 NCAA Division I FBS football season|1992]]
![[1992 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|Notre Dame]]
|12
|12
|120
|234
|51.3
|1,876
|8.0
|15
|6
|134.7
|68
|158
|2.3
|2
|-
! colspan="2" |Career
!47
!35
!377
!698
!54.0
!5,997
!8.6
!41
!23
!139.0
!253
!694
!2.7
!17
|}

== Professional career ==
{{NFL predraft
|    height ft = 6
|    height in = 2
|       weight = 216
|         dash =
|    ten split =
| twenty split =
|      shuttle =
|   cone drill =
|     vertical = 
|     broad ft =
|     broad in =
|        bench =
|     arm span = 32 1/4
|    hand span = 9 1/4
|    wonderlic =
|         note = All values from NFL Combine<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?f=Rick&l=Mirer&i=24292 |title=Rick Mirer, Combine Results, QB - Notre Dame |website=nflcombineresults.com |access-date=October 19, 2021}}</ref>
}}

Mirer was selected with the second overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1993 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1993/draft.htm |access-date=March 31, 2023 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> He signed a five-year, $15 million contract. In his rookie year under head coach [[Tom Flores]], he set NFL rookie records for attempts, completions, and yards. In 1993 Mirer became only the third rookie quarterback since 1970 to start all of his team's games. He finished his rookie season fifth in the AFC with 274 completions and 2833 yards. He finished second for [[National Football League Rookie of the Year Award|offensive rookie of the year]] behind his former backfield teammate from Notre Dame, [[Jerome Bettis]]. Those rookie records were eventually broken by [[Andrew Luck]].

On February 18, 1997, Mirer was traded with a fourth round pick in the [[1997 NFL draft]] to the [[Chicago Bears]] for their first round draft pick, later packaged in a trade to the [[Atlanta Falcons]] to move up to 3rd overall that year to select [[Shawn Springs]]. Mirer signed a three-year, $11.4 million contract with the 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 Chicago Bears season|1998 season]] and signed with the [[Green Bay Packers]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-19515481.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104162705/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-19515481.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |title=Quarterback Rick Mirer joining Packers |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |date=September 2, 1998 |access-date=August 23, 2010}}</ref>  Mirer never played a down for Green Bay, which was led by [[Brett Favre]], and was later traded to the [[New York Jets]] in 1999 where he replaced an injured [[Vinny Testaverde]] as the Jets starter. In 2000, he was signed by the [[San Francisco 49ers]] to compete with  [[Jeff Garcia]].<ref name="nytimes2002" /> In 2002, Mirer became the a backup 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 had a 63.5 passer rating, 11,969 passing yards, and 50 touchdown passes before he retired in 2004. Although playing for several teams that did make the playoffs during his career, Mirer never played a single down in the postseason.

==NFL career statistics==

{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! rowspan="2"| GP
! colspan="5"| Passing
! colspan="4"| Rushing
|-
! Att !! Comp !! Yds !! TD !! Int !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! TD
|-
! [[1993 NFL season|1993]] || [[1993 Seattle Seahawks season|SEA]]
| 16 || 486 || 274 || 2,833 || 12 || 17 || 68 || 343 || 5.0 || 3
|-
! [[1994 NFL season|1994]] || [[1994 Seattle Seahawks season|SEA]]
| 13 || 381 || 195 || 2,151 || 11 ||  7 || 34 || 153 || 4.5 || 0
|-
! [[1995 NFL season|1995]] || [[1995 Seattle Seahawks season|SEA]]
| 15 || 391 || 209 || 2,564 || 13 || 20 || 43 || 193 || 4.5 || 1
|-
! [[1996 NFL season|1996]] || [[1996 Seattle Seahawks season|SEA]]
| 11 || 265 || 136 || 1,546 || 5 || 12 || 33 || 191 || 5.8 || 2
|-
! [[1997 NFL season|1997]] || [[1997 Chicago Bears season|CHI]]
| 7 || 103 || 53 || 420 || 0 || 6 || 20 || 78 || 3.9 || 1
|-
! [[1998 NFL season|1998]] || [[1998 Green Bay Packers season|GB]]
| 0 || colspan="9"| DNP
|-
! [[1999 NFL season|1999]] || [[1999 New York Jets season|NYJ]]
| 8 || 176 || 95 || 1,062 || 5 || 9 || 21 || 89 || 4.2 || 1
|-
! [[2000 NFL season|2000]] || [[2000 San Francisco 49ers season|SF]]
| 1 || 20 || 10 || 126 || 1 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 0.0 || 0
|-
! [[2001 NFL season|2001]] || [[2001 San Francisco 49ers season|SF]]
| 0 || colspan="9"| DNP
|-
! [[2002 NFL season|2002]] || [[2002 Oakland Raiders season|OAK]]
| 0 || colspan="9"| DNP
|-
! [[2003 NFL season|2003]] || [[2003 Oakland Raiders season|OAK]]
| 9 || 221 || 116 || 1,267 || 3 || 5 || 20 || 183 || 4.2 || 1
|-
! [[2004 NFL season|2004]] || [[2004 Detroit Lions season|DET]]
| 0 || colspan="9"| DNP
|-
! colspan="2"| [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MireRi00.htm Career] || 80 || 2,043 || 1,088 || 11,969 || 50 || 76 || 242 || 1,130 || 4.7 || 9
|}

Mirer posted a 24–44 record as regular season starter in 12 seasons in the NFL. He has career single game highs of 287 yards passing and three touchdowns.

==See also==
* [[List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Footballstats |nfl=MIR519112 |espn=398 |cbs=1015 |yahoo=2364 |si=2364 |pfr=M/MireRi00 }}

{{Navboxes|title=Rick Mirer|list=
{{Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback navbox}}
{{Seattle Seahawks starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Chicago Bears starting quarterback navbox}}
{{New York Jets starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Oakland Raiders starting quarterback navbox}}
{{1993 NFL Draft}}
{{Second overall NFL draft picks}}
{{SeahawksFirstPick}}
{{Seahawks1993DraftPicks}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirer, Rick}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Goshen, Indiana]]
[[Category:American football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Indiana]]
[[Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players]]
[[Category:Seattle Seahawks players]]
[[Category:New York Jets players]]
[[Category:Chicago Bears players]]
[[Category:San Francisco 49ers players]]
[[Category:Oakland Raiders players]]
[[Category:Detroit Lions players]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers players]]
[[Category:Second overall NFL draft picks]]