Rice will sign a four-year deal with the Raiders as soon as today, according to NFL sources. The deal is said to be worth $3 million in the first two seasons. His outrageously successful San Francisco career ended yesterday when he signed a release form brought to him on the veranda of a golf club in Los Altos Hills. After 16 years with the team, he was dropped to free up money for other players in the team's budget.
"It's all about choices," Rice said yesterday at the Los Altos Hills Country Club, where he was the host of a charity golf tournament. "I still love the game."
Jerry Rice Complete Career Highlights
Jerry Rice Page
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Through The Years
Oct. 20, 1984: Bill Walsh watches TV highlights from his hotel room in
Houston of Rice catching five TD passes. Rice finishes senior season at
Mississippi Valley State with 112 receptions for 1,845 yards and 28 TDs.
April 30, 1985: Walsh trades 49ers' picks in the first, second and third
rounds to New England to move up 12 spots to pick Rice with No. 16
overall selection in NFL draft.
Oct. 6, 1985: Catches first NFL TD, a 25-yard pass from Joe Montana in
the fourth quarter of 38-17 victory over Atlanta Falcons.
Nov. 17, 1985: Drops two passes in first half against Kansas City and sobs
in locker room at Candlestick Park after getting booed.
Dec. 1, 1985: Does not catch a pass in 35-8 victory over Washington
Redskins.
Dec. 9, 1985: Has break-out game with 10 receptions for 241 yards in a
27-20 loss to the L.A. Rams on Monday Night Football. It is the first game
of his current streak of 225 consecutive games with at least one catch.
Nov. 17, 1986: Catches season-high 12 passes for 204 yards in 14-6 loss
to Washington en route to being named Sports Illustrated's NFL player of
the year.
Sept. 20, 1987: "Hail Jerry" play responsible for 49ers' 27-26 victory over
Cincinnati. After stopping Bengals on a running play with :02 remaining on
fourth down, Rice catches 25-yard TD pass on final play of the game. Rice
would go on to be named league MVP.
Sept. 4, 1988: Does not catch a TD pass against New Orleans Saints,
ending NFL-record streak of 13 consecutive games with at least one TD
reception.
Sept. 11, 1988: Catches 78-yard TD pass with :42 remaining to supply
winning points in 20-17 victory over N.Y. Giants.
Jan. 8, 1989: In frigid temperatures, catches scoring passes of 61 and 27
yards in 28-3 victory over Chicago Bears in NFC Championship.
Jan. 22, 1989: Catches 11 passes for a Super Bowl record 215 yards in
20-16 victory over Cincinnati (pictured with the Super Bowl trophy). He
catches three passes for 51 yards on game-winning drive.
Jan. 24, 1989: Creates stir when he intimates that racism is reason for lack
of recognition and endorsements after being named MVP of Super Bowl
XXIII.
Oct. 14, 1990: Ties NFL record with five TD receptions (13 catches for
225 yards) in 45-35 victory over Atlanta Falcons.
Dec. 6, 1992: Breaks Steve Largent's NFL record with 101st career TD
catch, against Miami Dolphins.
Nov. 22, 1993: Establishes Monday Night Football record of 18 career
touchdowns with two TD receptions in 42-7 victory over Saints.
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August 1994: Forfeits $170,000 in likely-to-be-earned incentive money so 49ers will have enough salary-cap room to field practice squad.
Sept. 5, 1994: Scores three TDs in 44-14 victory over L.A. Raiders to break Jim Brown's NFL all-time record of 126 TDs.
Jan. 15, 1995: Catches 28-yard TD in corner of the end zone with :08 left in first half to give 49ers 31-14 lead over Dallas in NFC Championship. Niners win 38-28.
Jan. 29, 1995: On third play of the game, catches 44-yard TD pass for quickest opening TD drive in Super Bowl history. Finishes with 10 receptions for 149 yards in 49-26 victory over San Diego.
Dec. 24, 1995: Throws only TD pass of career, a 41-yard strike to J.J. Stokes off a reverse against Atlanta.
Jan. 6, 1996: Ties postseason high with 11 catches in playoff loss to Green Bay Packers.
Aug. 31, 1997: Sustains first serious injury of career when he suffers torn ligaments in left knee when Tampa Bay defensive tackle Warren Sapp twists him to the ground after grabbing his face mask on a reverse.
Dec. 4, 1997: Returns to full practice after being expected to miss four to six months from the knee injury.
Dec. 15, 1997: Helps 49ers clinch home-field advantage throughout playoffs with a 14-yard TD catch against Denver Broncos. However, on the play, also sustains a broken kneecap and is placed on injured reserve.
Sept. 6, 1998 After sitting out entire preseason, returns to catch six passes for 86 yards and a TD in 36-30 overtime victory over N.Y. Jets.
Nov. 1, 1998: Caught 12-yard TD pass from Steve Young against Green Bay for duo's 80th TD connection, breaking record set by Miami tandem of Dan Marino-Mark Clayton.
June 6, 2000: Rice signs a five-year, $31.3 million contract extension with the 49ers that both sides claim will allow him to spend his entire career with the team that drafted him.
Sept. 18, 2000: The day after catching three passes in a 41-24 loss to St. Louis, tells reporters this will probably be his last season with the 49ers. "I want to finish my career here, but the way things are going, it doesn't look like that's going to happen," he says. Rice expresses a desire to step aside to allow the younger receivers to grow.
Dec. 3, 2000: San Diego crowd erupts into loud chants of "Jer-ry! Jer-ry!" after he catches two TD passes in 45-17 victory over Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium.
Dec. 17, 2000: On a day Rice's final home game with the organization is celebrated, it's Terrell Owens who steals the show with NFL-record 20 receptions for 283 yards in a 17-0 victory over the Chicago Bears.
Feb. 14, 2001: The Press Democrat reports the 49ers have given Rice permission to speak to other teams about future employment, as he'll be released in June.
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Dynasty's last man
By Ira Miller, Chronicle Staff Writer
In recent years, we've heard the phrase "end of an era" so often
when it came to the 49ers that it started to lose its meaning. But, and you can bank on this: The departure
of Jerry Rice really is the end of the era. Rice was the 49ers' only star who bridged both the 1980s and the
'90s. He was there in 1988, when he was Super Bowl MVP of the 49ers' third championship season. And
he was there in 1994, when he broke the NFL's record for scoring touchdowns early in the 49ers' fifth
championship season...
Walsh watches television, the rest is history
By Glenn Dickey, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bill Walsh was in a Houston hotel room, the night before the
49ers' eighth game of the 1984 season, watching the late news on television. The sports segment featured
Jerry Rice, who would finish with 18 NCAA career receiving records that season. As Walsh remembered
later, Rice had scored four or five touchdowns that day, all on plays of more than 50 yards. The 49ers
were on their way to a 15-1 regular-season record, their best ever, and their second Super Bowl triumph.
Many who have watched all their great teams think that was the best of their five Super Bowl champions...
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Rice proves adage: Practice makes perfect
By Matt Maiocco, The Press Democrat
Some in sports would consider it a form of derision to be called a great
practice player. There are obvious undertones that a "practice player" does not perform in games -- under pressure
-- when it counts. And then there's Jerry Rice, perhaps the greatest practice player of them all. Rice is not subject
to any ridicule because he also happens to be one of the best clutch performers in the history of professional football.
Everyone with tickets or a television has witnessed countless fantastic catches courtesy of Rice over the past
16 seasons with the 49ers. But what he has shown packed stadiums is just a snippet of his pass-catching genius...
Sadness among 49ers supporters and wary hope in Raider Nation
Dwight Chapin, Chronicle Senior Writer
Jerry Rice in Raider silver and black? That just doesn't play well
with many of the 49er faithful.
"It sucks," said Dennis Johnston, president of the 49ers booster club in
Concord, when informed that the NFL's all-time leading receiver apparently will be moving across the bay
this fall. "The only thing worse would be if he were going with the Rams."
"I'm depressed," said Joanie
Bassett, who heads the Niner boosters in Santa Clara. "When Jerry played his last game here last season,
I cried and cried, and I'm sure a lot of other fans did the same. But this just breaks my heart."...
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Raiders close to Jerry's home, far from familiar
by Gwen Knapp, San Francisco Chronicle
Jerry Rice is becoming a Raider because he wants to stay close
to home. He quickly will discover that he has moved to a different universe. On his last day as a 49er,
Rice watched Bill Walsh take over the show. The 49ers' general manager emeritus attended Rice's charity
golf tournament yesterday and announced that the receiver would be going to Oakland. Rice and his agent,
Jim Steiner, wanted to keep the suspense going, insisting that Seattle was still in pursuit. But Walsh being
Walsh -- omnipresent and camera-friendly -- he all but slapped a Raiders cap on his old protege's head,
draped a black jersey over his chest and drove him across the Bay Bridge. If he had just typed up the press
release, Walsh could have given the Raiders' public-relations staff the rest of the week off...
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