Falcons Sign 44-Year-Old DeBerg

Veteran quarterback Steve DeBerg is back in the NFL at the age of 44 with the Atlanta Falcons.

Desperate for a backup quarterback with Mark Rypien's status in doubt, Falcons coach Dan Reeves turned to an old friend in DeBerg, who last played in the NFL back in 1993. DeBerg agreed to terms on a one-year deal with Atlanta.

DeBerg is familiar with Reeves' offensive system after playing for him in Denver and serving as his quarterbacks coach with the New York Giants in 1995 and 1996.

"We feel Steve gives us the best option to help at this point," said Reeves. "He knows our system and when we worked him out recently he threw the ball extremely well. We'll give him the opportunity (in training camp) to see if he can help us."

DeBerg played for San Francisco (1978-80), Denver (1981-83), Tampa Bay (1984-87, 1992-93), Kansas City (1988-91) and Miami (1993) in a career that spanned 17 seasons.

Rypien signed a two-year contract with the Falcons in the offseason as an unrestricted free agent to serve as a backup to starter Chris Chandler, but family problems have caused him to contemplate retirement. Rypien's wife is suffering from an undisclosed illness and his young son has a brain tumor.

Leaving the inexperienced Tony Graziani as the lone backup, the Falcons opted to work out DeBerg and were impressed enough to sign him to a one-year deal.

DeBerg is 13th all-time in NFL history with 33,782 passing yards and is 10th in completions with 2,844 in 4,965 attempts.

DeBerg played in three games for Tampa Bay and five games with Miami to finish the 1993 season in his last NFL action. He completed 136-of-227 attempts for 1,707 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Falcons will hold a mandatory mini-camp this week and begin training camp on July 23 at Suwanee, Georgia.

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