Ex-Panther Beuerlein finished playing, 'probably'
SCOTT FOWLER
COMMENTARY
Has Steve Beuerlein retired from football?
Put it this way. He has taken off his helmet. He is reaching toward a hook, ready to hang it up for good.
And yet ...
Beuerlein won't quite say he's done. He did bat away several feelers from NFL teams this spring that wanted him to serve as their No. 3 or even their No. 2 quarterback.
But if a Panthers quarterback got hurt in August -- no one wants that to happen, but it's always a cruel possibility -- it's not out of the question that Beuerlein would suit up for Carolina one last time.
"It's not an impossibility, but it's an improbability," he said Thursday. "I'm at peace with saying I'm done with playing. Probably."
Beuerlein, 39, is close to signing an agreement with CBS-TV that will allow him to broadcast eight NFL games this season as a color analyst. That's a natural fit for the most telegenic player the Panthers have ever had. He never ducked an interview or a tough question during his five years at Carolina.
The 17-year NFL veteran was quite a quarterback, too. Although the Carolinas are now smitten with Jake Delhomme -- and rightfully so after that Super Bowl season -- Beuerlein holds almost every career Panthers passing record worth holding. He threw 86 touchdown passes for Carolina, more than Kerry Collins, Rodney Peete and Delhomme combined have thrown for the Panthers.
Beuerlein could end up as the Panthers' version of Dell Curry, taking on the role of community-oriented, extremely popular former player. Like the Charlotte Bobcats did with Curry, the Panthers would be wise to employ Beuerlein somehow.
The Panthers know that. Although there were rumors to the contrary a few months ago, Carolina doesn't plan to employ Beuerlein as a quarterback. The three-man group of Delhomme, Rodney Peete and Chris Weinke is in place for 2004.
Said Panthers general manager Marty Hurney: "Right now our quarterback situation is set. If anything changed, though, we'd certainly give him a call, because we all think the world of Steve."
Beuerlein has been in the NFL since 1987, playing for roughly half the league. Whether with the then-Los Angeles Raiders or Dallas or Carolina or Denver, he's always been known as a remarkably accurate quarterback with great leadership skills and limited mobility.
His most famous play in Charlotte -- the quarterback draw in 1999 to beat Green Bay -- was doubly ironic. Not only did Beuerlein hardly ever run, but he made then-coach George Seifert happier that day than I ever saw him here.
Then it was Seifert in 2001 who made the ridiculous decision to waive Beuerlein in favor of Jeff Lewis. Lewis was a nice guy, and about as well-suited to be an NFL starting quarterback as Paris Hilton.
Said Beuerlein: "Our family has kept its home in Charlotte even after that because every single person in the community has been so nice to us here. And the same way with every single person in the Panthers organization, too -- well, with the exception of one, but he's not here anymore."
Beuerlein would latch on in Denver after Seifert dismissed him, serving as Mike Shanahan's No. 2 quarterback.
While starting in place of an injured Jake Plummer last October, Beuerlein had the pinky on his right throwing hand smashed almost in two. It's still not completely healed, although Beuerlein is back to playing golf and says he can throw a football again.
The Broncos released Beuerlein in May for salary-cap reasons. Since then, he has returned to his Charlotte home full-time and thought more seriously about the future.
He will also host a sold-out high school football clinic Saturday at Providence.
"I know that most likely, realistically, I'm done," Beuerlein said. "But I'm going to keep myself in shape and keep throwing a football every now and then -- just in case."
Scott Fowler
