All David Archer ever wanted was to have the football in his hands, and for that he has traveled far and wide. From Soda Springs, Idaho; to Ephraim, Utah; to Ames, Iowa; to Atlanta, Miami, Washington, San Diego, Philadelphia, Sacramento.
Have arm, will travel. That was his motto. He never met a league or a city he didn't like, as long as it had a vacancy for a quarterbacking job. Just when you thought you'd heard the last of Archer, he'd turn up on another football field somewhere.This summer, Archer, who was once on the brink of NFL stardom only to wind up unemployed, turned up again. This time he's the star quarterback of the Sacramento Gold Miners, the new and first American team in the Canadian Football League.
The NFL it's not. On good days the Miners draw 20,000 fans in Sacramento State's 22,500-seat Hornet Field, and they might as well be playing in Nova Scotia as California for all the media attention they get. Archer could be backing up Randall Cunningham in the National Football League for almost the same money and glory, but that wasn't for him.
"If I wanted to watch, I'd buy a ticket," he says. "They handed me the ball down here."
And Archer has rewarded the Miners with a fine performance. After four games, he ranks second in the CFL in passing yards with 1,400, just ahead of former Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie. Two weeks ago he and Flutie threw for more than 400 yards apiece in a head-to-head, see-saw passing show that ended in a 38-36 loss for the Miners.
"It was a classic game," said Archer, whose team is 1-3.
It was the kind of performance that was expected of Archer earlier in his career. In 1986 he was the toast of Atlanta after leading the Falcons to their best start ever, including a nationally televised victory over Dallas in which Archer completed a last-minute 65-yard pass that set up the winning field goal. Archer was the rage. He was besieged with phone calls and fan mail and media requests. The Falcons had to give him his own post office box. Team owner Rankin Smith Jr. said publicly that Archer needed a raise and compared him to Joe Montana and Joe Theismann. Archer was considered one of the NFL's rising young quarterbacks on his way to superstardom.
And Archer didn't believe any of it. "I'd be willing to bet (the Falcons) still don't feel I'm their quarterback," he said at the time. "I still don't think I have convinced them."
Less than two years later Archer was gone. With Atlanta tied for the division lead after 10 games, Archer went down with a separated shoulder and the Falcons lost five of their last six outings. A coaching change was made. A new offense was installed. Archer started the '87 season opener, but the next week he was benched.
"I never got on the field again," he says. "You've got to have someone believe in you."
Archer began another search for a quarterbacking job. After the Falcons cut him, he signed with the Miami Dolphins but spent the '88 season as a backup with the Redskins. He was a backup with the Chargers for the '89 season. He was released in training camp in '90, and for the next year and a half he was out of football and waiting for the right team to come along.
Archer never gave up hope of a comeback. He was used to having to change people's minds about his ability. There were no scholarships waiting for him after high school. He was undrafted out of college. He had always played at small, out-of-the-way places such as Soda Springs High, Snow College and Iowa State.
"I took the long road," he says. "Small high school, small junior college, Iowa State, which wasn't exactly a power, free agent. I took the long way around with no short cuts."
Midway through the '91 season the Eagles hired Archer to back up Cunningham and Jim McMahon. After the season, he joined the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football and led the team to the championship, but the league folded in '92 and Archer spent another season as a backup for the Eagles.
This spring, with the loss of McMahon to the Vikings, the Eagles offered Archer another contract to back up Cunningham in '93, but, meanwhile, the Sacramento Gold Miners were created to give the struggling CFL an American market, and they wanted Archer as their starting quarterback.
The NFL or the CFL? "It was tempting, but I didn't get into this game to back up anyone," he says. "I could be a backup and collect my paycheck. A lot of guys are satisfied to do that, but not me. I got into this game to play it, not watch it."
The Miners wanted Archer badly and backed it up with money. The CFL has a salary cap of $2 million per team, but each team is allowed one player whose salary doesn't count against the cap; for the Miners, that player is Archer, who is paid $500,000 per year.
Where others in his position failed - most notably, NFL star Vince Ferragamo - Archer so far has succeeded in making the adjustment to the Canadian game with its wider field (by 11 2/3 yards), three downs, 12-player lineup and 20-second play clock.
"You've got to throw more in this game, which a quarterback's got to like," says Archer.
At 31, Archer has found a home. Or has he? Archer says he doesn't plan to use the CFL as a springboard to the NFL, "But it could happen that way." All he needs is the ball.