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  • #1

    Turley to IR Tuesday

    John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com

    Now that he's learned he's out for the season, St. Louis Rams right tackle Kyle Turley will take some time to determine what to do next. Every medical checkup revealed another bulging disc above the area that required surgery in the offseason.

    The prognosis was to have a second operation. The only way he could have played was to take epidural shots to relieve the pain, but that would do nothing to fix the problem. The Rams' offensive line is in trouble now that injured center Dave Wohlabaugh has been released and Turley won't be available.

    The Rams are expected to put Turley on injured reserve before Tuesday's roster cutdowns to 65 players.

    The back problems put the long-term future of Turley in question. He turns 29 on Sept. 24 and has 95 starts during his six-year career. Last season he signed a six-year, $31 million contract that included $10.9 million in guarantees.

    His presence along with the addition of Wohlabaugh solidified the blocking for quarterback Marc Bulger, who is not the most mobile quarterback. The improved blocking allowed the Rams to get back into the playoffs last season.

    Turley's back started bothering him during the first couple days of training camp. Before camp was a week old, Turley left Macomb, Ill., and starting visiting doctors.

    The final prognosis came Wednesday afternoon when a couple of specialists confirmed that his back was not healthy enough to withstand the season.

    The Rams acquired Turley from the Saints for a second round choice in the 2004 draft. He was the seventh pick of the 1998 draft by New Orleans.
    Tags: None
    • #2
      Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

      The Rams' offensive line is in trouble now that injured center Dave Wohlabaugh has been released and Turley won't be available.
      I'm a John Clayton fan, but he has been spending too much time in Bristol. Turley has been over-rated and Wohlabaugh never got up to speed on this line. It would have been nice to have them this year, but the remaining line is not exactly swiss cheese. We have pro-bowlers (Pace & Timmerman), we have solid veterans (McCollum, Williams, Randell), up-and-comers (King & Tercero), even a couple of 2nd timers who appear to be willing to do what it takes to get back to playing form (Dishman & Nutten). Will we have to re-work the formula a little? Yes. Is our line an elite one? No. Will they be more than adequate to protect this offense? Yes.
      The more things change, the more they stay the same.

        Comment

        • #3
          Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

          Originally posted by HUbison
          It would have been nice to have them this year, but the remaining line is not exactly swiss cheese.
          Honestly, I think we'll have to wait until the start of the season before we can really make that assessment. After watching the Kansas City game, I can understand how someone might not exactly have a lot of faith in this year's offensive line personnel.

            Comment

            • #4
              Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

              Originally posted by NickSeiler
              Honestly, I think we'll have to wait until the start of the season before we can really make that assessment. After watching the Kansas City game, I can understand how someone might not exactly have a lot of faith in this year's offensive line personnel.
              Yea, I see where people are saying that, but McCollum & Tercero were the only two playing without some minor nagging injury. Hopefully, by regular season that has been worked out.

              My point is that the deletions of Wohlabaugh & Turley, while inconvenient, aren't season breakers.
              The more things change, the more they stay the same.

                Comment

                • #5
                  Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

                  Originally posted by HUbison
                  My point is that the deletions of Wohlabaugh & Turley, while inconvenient, aren't season breakers.
                  I suppose them my counter is that Clayton never said they were, just that the Rams were in trouble, which I would contend is correct since they were forced to call two guys out of retirement to fill voids on the line.

                    Comment

                    • #6
                      Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

                      Originally posted by NickSeiler
                      I suppose them my counter is that Clayton never said they were, just that the Rams were in trouble, which I would contend is correct since they were forced to call two guys out of retirement to fill voids on the line.
                      But Clayton did say that.
                      Originally posted by John Clayton
                      The Rams' offensive line is in trouble now that injured center Dave Wohlabaugh has been released and Turley won't be available.
                      I just don't see them in trouble due to the loss of those two. Wohlabaugh is replaced by McCollum (upgrade). McCollum will be replaced by Nutten (by reports appears to be a slight downgrade for now). Turley is replaced by Tercero/Williams (slight downgrade). If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I just don't see that as "trouble".
                      Last edited by HUbison; -08-26-2004, 07:36 AM.
                      The more things change, the more they stay the same.

                        Comment

                        • #7
                          Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

                          After watching the Kansas City game, I can understand how someone might not exactly have a lot of faith in this year's offensive line personnel.
                          Plug in Orlando Pace at left tackle and shift Grant Williams over to the right side and the game isn't nearly as horrific.

                            Comment

                            • #8
                              Re: Turley to IR Tuesday

                              Originally posted by RamWraith(John Clayton)
                              The back problems put the long-term future of Turley in question.
                              OK. Raise your hand if you saw this coming at the end of last season?

                                Comment

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                                • RamDez
                                  Rams' Turley says he may retire
                                  by RamDez


                                  Rams' Turley says he may retire


                                  BY STEVE KORTE

                                  Knight Ridder Newspapers



                                  ST. LOUIS - (KRT) - Offensive tackle Kyle Turley, who will sit out the entire 2004 season for the St. Louis Rams due to a back injury, is mulling retirement.

                                  The 28-year-old Turley left training camp three weeks ago to seek out the opinion of several back specialists, and was told that he will likely require a second operation on the herniated disc in his back if he ever wants to return to the football field.

                                  If Turley opts for the operation, he probably wouldn`t be healthy enough to play until midway through the 2005 season.

                                  ESPN.com reported that Turley`s friends say he is not yet mentally prepared for the rigors of such a lengthy rehabilitation.

                                  There`s also no guarantee that the surgery will permanently correct Turley`s chronic back problems.

                                  Turley, appearing on Fox Sports Net`s "Best Damn Sports Show Period" on Thursday, said it was 50-50 whether he`d ever play again.

                                  "There`s the quality of life after football," Turley said in an interview on FSN Midwest. "I want to be able to pick my kids up when I`m 40 years old and carry them around."

                                  Turley failed to return several telephone calls from Rams coach Mike Martz in the week after he left training camp.

                                  "At the time, when things we`re going on, and Mike came on the air and talked about how I didn`t call him back, I was traveling around," Turley said. "And, it was a situation that I had not been used to dealing with. I was angry in some cases that this (injury) happened again and in other cases very disheartened. I didn`t return a lot of telephone calls."

                                  If Turley does retire, the Rams could seek the return of a portion of the $10 million signing bonus he received when they acquired him in a trade with the New Orleans Saints in March, 2003.

                                  Turley has been placed on injured reserve for this season. He`ll count $2.36 million against the Rams` salary cap for 2004.

                                  Turley was a model of durability before the back injury. He had missed only one game in six previous NFL seasons.

                                  The loss of Turley and center Dave Wohlabaugh, who was released after failing to comeback from off-season hip surgery, was a big blow for the Rams` offensive line.

                                  Compounding matters is the holdout of Pro Bowl left tackle Orlando Pace, who has yet to sign the one-year, $7.05 million tender as the team`s franchise agent.

                                  The Rams are in the process of finalizing their roster. They must trim 12 players by 3 p.m. on Sunday to get down to the NFL regular-season limit of 53 players....
                                  -09-05-2004, 04:59 AM
                                • Nick
                                  Turley is released after failing physical - PD
                                  by Nick
                                  Turley is released after failing physical
                                  By Bill Coats
                                  Of the Post-Dispatch
                                  Monday, Jun. 06 2005

                                  Kyle Turley won't be playing offensive tackle, tight end, defensive tackle or
                                  anything else for the Rams in 2005. Turley has failed a physical exam
                                  administered in Arizona, where he had been rehabbing the back injury that cost
                                  him the entire 2004 season, and has been released.

                                  Officially, Turley was designated as "waived - failed physical," which means
                                  the Rams owe him $250,000 but that the effect on the salary cap is the same as
                                  if he simply had been released. The "hit" is $1.82 million this year and $5.47
                                  million in 2006.

                                  Turley signed a six-year, $26.5 million deal with the Rams after he was
                                  acquired in a trade with New Orleans in March of 2003.

                                  Turley, 28, underwent surgery on a herniated disc in March of 2004 after
                                  starting all 16 games at right tackle the previous season, his first with the
                                  Rams. Turley reinjured his back early in training camp last July and was placed
                                  on the injured reserve list Aug. 28.

                                  Additional surgery was not performed, and Turley said in a recent interview
                                  with the Post-Dispatch that he had been training daily since early January at
                                  the Athletes Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz. After dropping some 65
                                  pounds from his playing weight, down to 235, the 6-foot-5 Turley reported that
                                  he'd added about 30 pounds and hoped to play in the NFL this year.

                                  Still, Turley acknowledged that he probably couldn't add enough bulk to man an
                                  offensive line position this year, so he hinted that he'd be interested in a
                                  different position - perhaps tight end or defensive end.

                                  "As far as the team goes, I don't know what their thoughts are," he said.
                                  "Obviously, they signed a contract with me to play offensive line, and they
                                  don't know what I would do at another position. So, that's probably a big
                                  question in their mind. ...

                                  "(But) it might take another year possibly to continue putting the weight on,
                                  making it good weight, and not just going out and eating a bunch of Krispy
                                  Kreme doughnuts and burritos at 2 in the morning, to get back up to 300
                                  pounds."

                                  It probably never would've gotten that far with the Rams, particularly after
                                  Turley's well-publicized offseason clash with coach Mike Martz. Their rift
                                  began when Martz became irritated that Turley wasn't returning his phone calls
                                  after leaving training camp in Macomb, Ill., to seek evaluations of his back
                                  injury.

                                  A conversation between the two in mid-December in Martz's Rams Park office
                                  escalated into a shouting match and ultimately led Martz to file a complaint...
                                  -06-07-2005, 12:57 AM
                                • RamWraith
                                  Turley leaves camp to get ailing back checked
                                  by RamWraith
                                  By Jim Thomas
                                  Of the Post-Dispatch
                                  08/02/2004
                                  MACOMB, Ill. - A disappointed and frustrated Kyle Turley headed back to St. Louis on Sunday for further tests and evaluation of a back problem that doesn't seem to want to go away.

                                  Meanwhile, the Rams are bringing in reinforcements for an offensive line that has been short-handed since the start of training camp. Offensive tackle Greg Randall arrived in Macomb early Sunday evening for a physical, and later was signed to a one-year contract. He is on the practice field this morning.

                                  Randall started 16 games for the Houston Texans last year. He played his first three seasons in the NFL for the New England Patriots, and started at right tackle in Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams.

                                  The Rams also were attempting to bring in guard-center Chris Dishman, the former Arizona Cardinal, to help their depth on the interior of the line. But as of Sunday evening, the Rams had been unable to contact Dishman, causing some team officials to wonder if he was still interested in playing.

                                  Before heading to St. Louis, Turley told reporters that he considered the latest setback career threatening.

                                  "It was a threat to my career last year," Turley said. "But for it to have possibly reoccurred is definitely a bigger threat."

                                  Turley experienced nagging pain in his hip last season. After the season, the source of the pain was diagnosed as a herniated disk in his lower back, and Turley underwent surgery in March.

                                  Coach Mike Martz pronounced Turley fit at the outset of camp, but Turley has practiced only about half the time over the first five days here at Western Illinois University because of back pain.

                                  "I came out here in hopes of everything being OK," Turley said. "And everything kind of felt fine. But I went through the first day of practice, and it didn't seem like it was completely right.

                                  "I expressed my feelings about it. The idea was to come back out and see how it goes. We did it, and I don't know if that was necessarily the right thing to do."

                                  In addition to getting checked out in St. Louis, Turley said he might see a specialist in Los Angeles.

                                  "We're attacking it right now, with some heavy anti-inflammatories," he said. "And we're going to see these people and see what they have to say."

                                  Turley had an MRI Saturday in Macomb and termed the results "not good."

                                  Turley added, "I'm not doing the surgery again. I'm not going through that again."

                                  With or without surgery, Turley is concerned that any additional deterioration of the disk won't leave much cushion between the vertebrae.

                                  "The biggest fear is bone on bone," Turley said. "I don't want that to happen and be a hunchback...
                                  -08-02-2004, 06:52 AM
                                • RamWraith
                                  Turley still rehabbing from back injury
                                  by RamWraith
                                  By Len Pasquarelli
                                  ESPN.com


                                  Still at least three months away from being able to pass an NFL physical, and about 40 pounds under his normal playing weight, offensive tackle Kyle Turley has been released by the St. Louis Rams after failing a team-administered physical exam.

                                  The split with Turley, who officially appeared on the NFL's transaction wire Monday as "waived-failed physical" following an exam in Arizona, where he has been rehabilitating from a debilitating back injury, ends a turbulent stint with the team. The bile between the seven-year veteran right tackle and coach Mike Martz spilled over into a much-publicized shouting match last December.

                                  Following the imbroglio, precipitated in part when the coach suggested that Turley was not returning his phone calls and updating him on his physical progress, Martz filed a complaint with NFL security. In the complaint, Martz alleged Turley threatened him.

                                  Even without the bitterness, it is doubtful that Turley, who is suffering from a herniated disc, would have returned to the club. The poisoned relationship between Turley and Martz, though, cemented the fact the tackle would not return to the Rams, even though he suggested as recently as last week that he was amenable to playing in St. Louis again.

                                  The only question about Turley's status with the Rams was the timing of when the club chose to release him.

                                  The addition of Turley to the free agent market further crowds the pool of veterans at the tackle position. The key difference, though, is that veterans such as Chris Terry, Kenyatta Jones, Scott Gragg and Aaron Gibson are physically cleared to play in 2005. Turley is probably several months from having even a remote chance of getting back onto a field in 2005, and might have to wait until 2006.

                                  Within the last week, Dr. Robert Watkins, a Los Angeles back specialist who performed the surgery on Turley's disc in 2004, examined the offensive linemen and apprised him he needed several more months of rehabilitation. At that time, Turley remained optimistic he would play football again at some point.

                                  "The back is feeling really good," Turley said. "The biggest problem right now is the severe atrophy of my right leg muscles, and I've been struggling to overcome that. That's a rigorous and long process, but it's coming back, slowly but surely."

                                  Turley, 28, has made it clear he does not plan to retire. He will continue his rehabilitation and hopes to resume his career at some point, even if it means changing positions. A few months ago, Turley suggested he might come back as a defensive end, a position where he would not need as much weight, and which would submit his balky back to less strain.

                                  The former San Diego State star, acquired by the Rams from New Orleans in 2003, had surgery on a herniated disc...
                                  -06-07-2005, 01:40 PM
                                • RamWraith
                                  Walter Payton Man of the Year Nominee Kyle Turley
                                  by RamWraith
                                  Tuesday, October 5, 2004

                                  By Nick Wagoner
                                  Staff Writer

                                  Kyle Turley knows all about stereotypes. He has seen it from every angle and every position possible.

                                  Turley has been labeled because of his long hair and tattoos and his sometimes-reckless approach to football. He is what many people consider as the prototype of a gCalifornia Surfer Dude.h Look beyond that flimsy stereotype and you will see that what makes Turley tick is far more than any loud music or new ink could do.

                                  On the field, Turley is as mean as they come. He has to be. He plays offensive tackle, a position not exactly built for the faint of heart. His imposing frame and demeanor make him seem like some sort of caged beast and he iscon the field.

                                  Take Turley away from the game and he becomes something else, something unexpected. Turley is one of the gamefs good guys. Scratch that, Turley is one of the gamefs best guys.

                                  This season, Turley is on injured reserve because of a back injury. While the news was devastating to Turley and the Rams, there is a silver lining for people in St. Louis and other parts of the country.

                                  gI am just going to try to make positive use of the time,h Turley said. gI want to try to keep my face in the public eye so I can continue to spread all of the important messages.h

                                  Along with his wife Stacy, Turley goes above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference in the community. That relentless dedication, has earned Turley a nomination for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, given each year to the player who best balances his responsibilities in the community with those on the field.

                                  A truly unique athlete with vast interests beyond football, Turley doesnft shy away from the tough issues and has tackled the challenge of educating people on the value of diversity and acceptance through his work with the Diversity Awareness Partnership. When he speaks on the subject of diversity, he often offers himself as an example of perception versus reality and looking past stereotypes.

                                  gIfm not just a football player,h Turley said. gI want to help awareness and show these kids that there are so many things out there for them. They need to know that color, race, none of those things matter.h

                                  In addition to his extensive work with the Diversity Awareness Partnership, Turley, a musician who majored in art at San Diego State, has also devoted himself to the Arts and Education Council which raises funds to support the arts and arts education activities in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

                                  gThe arts have played a significant part in shaping the person I am today,h Turley said. gAnd by partnering with the Arts and Education Council, Stacy and I hope to bring a new level of awareness to the importance of all art forms ranging from music to visual arts.h
                                  ...
                                  -10-06-2004, 06:06 AM
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