J.P. Losman signs with Las Vegas UFL franchise
J.P. Losman, a former first-round pick out of Tulane who started 33 games in his five-year tenure in Buffalo, became the first well-known commodity to sign with the new United Football League, as he inked a one-year deal for an undisclosed amount with the franchise located in Las Vegas late Tuesday night.
Losman, a 28-year old unrestricted free agent, became expendable in Buffalo with the emergence of Trent Edwards. He had talks with Denver and Carolina this offseason about being a back-up, but the Broncos instead signed Chris Simms, while the Panthers opted to stay with Josh McCown.
Said Losman: "I'm trying to get back on the field as soon as possible. I love the game. I want to play this game. I don't want to be [in the NFL] waiting for somebody to get hurt or not play well. We're trying to have as much success as possible here, try to create some buzz ... and then go through [NFL free agency] again next year."
The Las Vegas team, which will be led by former Giants head coach Jim Fassel, begins its six-game season Oct. 8 and concludes with a championship game Thanksgiving weekend. At that point, Losman is free to sign with an NFL team.
"I'm looking at my career over the long haul," Losman said. "OK, this is where I'm at in five years. But I look at it like, 'Where do I want to be after a 10-year, 11-year career?' There are some things I feel I want to work on that I need to work on, and this league gives me an opportunity to do that and to work with somebody who's had a lot of success in the NFL."
Fassel has worked to great success with quarterbacks such as John Elway, Boomer Esiason and Kerry Collins — which is good because Losman threw 34 interceptions, was sacked 103 times, and led the Bills to just a 10-23 record in games he started.
The ESPN article noted that quarterbacks such as Steve Young (USFL), Tommy Maddox (XFL) and Kurt Warner (Arena League) took alternate routes to the NFL. But all those guys were upwardly mobile — none of them had to spend time back in the minors after reaching the NFL.
Losman's signing begs the question, 'who's next for the UFL?' Michael Vick? Unrestricted free agents such as Charlie Batch, Kyle Boller, Joey Harrington or Jeff Garcia? Only time will tell...
Click below for Fassel's take on Losman.
-Chris Mascaro
"If I had doubt that he should not be a starting winning quarterback, I wouldn't take it on," Fassel said. "But I had the same feeling with Kerry Collins ... J.P.'s got tremendous athletic skills. This guy should be a starter in the NFL. I mean, come on ... But I still understand you can help a guy. Even Tiger Woods needs a swing coach.
"Listen, if he'd have went back to the NFL and sat on the bench this year, then he'd have been no better off next year. Whatever anybody thought about him, they'd still say the same thing. Nothing would've changed. ... Instead, you go in this league and you play. The risk you take is you don't play well. But if you're an aggressive person, you say 'I'm going to play well, people are going to see me, and maybe I can erase some of those negatives that were in the past, and a lot of people will say, wow, look at him play now. He's a new guy.'
"You've got to be blind not to see this guy can play quarterback. And if he does his job this year and everything works out, I'll be the happiest guy in the world if next year, there's 12, 14, 16 teams saying, 'This guy's a quarterback; we all miscalculated this thing. He can play. Let's go get this guy now.' And then he's back where he wants to be. That's fine with me. I have no problem with that.
"In fact, I've thought about it a lot at night. I want that for him, and I feel the accountability. It's my job now to get him going. Because I think he'll make the commitment and I'll make the commitment, too."
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Comments (1)
That is a good and strategic decision for the company. Good luck, I hope they work to strengthen the economy.