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Some excerpts from this long article about Kyle Turley's time with the Rams and his dealings with Jay Zygmunt and Mike Martz. To read the whole article click the link below.
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/12/19/k...-wife-stacy-harris-mike-martz-concussions-cte
The Ugly End of an All-Pro Career, the Uglier Start of a Life After Football
By ANDY BENOIT
Simon Bruty
Turley, nearing the end of his rookie contract, had been a negotiating a long-term deal with the Saints. But when GM Randy Mueller was fired and Mickey Loomis took over, things changed—Loomis and head coach Jim Haslett put Turley on the trading block. Just days after he and Stacy were married, he was dealt to St. Louis for a second-round pick.
As part of the trade, he received a new five-year, $26 million deal, with $12 million guaranteed. The money was helpful—much of his first contract’s earnings had been spent on lawyers and private investigators from his first marriage.
A rival of the Rams while with the Saints, Turley had been leery of their head coach, Mike Martz. The magnitude of the trade left him encouraged for their relationship, but he later came to believe that it was actually Rams GM Jay Zygmunt who pushed for his acquisition.
Martz’s system demanded a lot of offensive tackles. Turley played well that first year, 2003, but in Week 7 against Green Bay, he was knocked out with a concussion. The FOX announcers remarked that even the smelling salts weren’t waking him. Stacy says she had been instructed to take Kyle home after the game.
In the tunnel she came across Packers defensive end Joe Johnson, who played with Turley in New Orleans. “Stacy, KT is really f---ed up,” Johnson said. “Take him to a hospital!” Panicked, Stacy found a stadium police officer to drive them, sirens on.
A scan revealed dark masses on Turley’s brain. Doctors shrugged. That’s just what you get with football players. Two days later Turley was back at practice. To make sure he was O.K., the Rams had him sustain bull rushes from defensive end Leonard Little. “Just to see if I could stay conscious,” Turley says. “That was the test back then.” He didn’t miss a game.
Stacy would come to look back on her husband’s brain scan through a very different light, but at the time, she was more worried about the rest of his body. Besides football’s usual wear and tear, he had a back problem that sent pain down his leg.
Turley was prescribed a litany of medications—painkillers, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories, sleep aides, etc.—and finished out the season. St. Louis went 12-4 but lost to Carolina in the divisional round.
Simon Bruty
Two weeks later Kyle was off most of the medications. One day Stacy heard him shouting from the bathroom, panicking at the site of his atrophied right buttocks, hanging down by his hamstring like a deflated balloon. He had back surgery, and suddenly his mission shifted from chasing Pro Bowls to just getting healthy.
It became a grueling journey, with a few ups but mostly debilitating downs. He was with his teammates often in 2004 but never got on the field. His rehab remained arduous. When asked about Turley at a press conference, Martz said he didn’t know if Turley even wanted to play football. Kyle and Stacy were furious.
Soon after, Turley met with Martz. Turley claims the head coach accused him of coming to St. Louis to take the money and run. Turley became volatile, said his piece and stormed out. Before he got home, Stacy got a call from her dad. “What did Kyle do?!” he asked.
That’s how she learned her husband’s name was ticking across the bottom of ESPN screens, with a report saying he had threatened his head coach’s life. (Kyle and Stacy refute this, saying that Turley had immediately told Zygmunt of their argument. They believe the only way the story could have gotten out so quickly was by Martz taking it to the media himself.)
Martz remembers it differently. “I never accused him of taking the money and running,” he said when reached by phone. Martz said he and Zygmunt were not communicating well. “There was a certain dishonesty that was in the front office that I had to deal with for a number of years,” As Martz tells it, “Kyle did a great job for us and then he got injured.
After that, he just disappeared. I couldn’t get any information when he was coming back. Couldn’t find him anywhere. Couldn’t reach him. When I asked Jay [Zygmunt] about it, he said he didn’t know either. The obvious part to that is Jay knew exactly what was going on [with Kyle]. I just couldn’t know.
“Kyle was upset with me because he assumed I knew what was going on with him and I didn’t. He accused me of not caring, all those things. I’m looking at him thinking, ‘What is this all about?’ I just let him vent, which everybody in the whole building heard.”
That was the last time Martz ever saw Turley. Even after the ugly episode, Turley was jolted when then Rams cut him after the 2004 season. He’d been working so hard to get healthy. As an NFLPA rep, having negotiated on various league matters, he’d grown to suspect that the NFL was strictly a cutthroat business, that players were just commodities.
Now that was confirmed. The realization did not strike Turley lightly; he is a deep, passionate thinker. Battered and disillusioned, he was 29 and already facing a post-football life.
********************************************************************
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/12/19/k...-wife-stacy-harris-mike-martz-concussions-cte
The Ugly End of an All-Pro Career, the Uglier Start of a Life After Football
By ANDY BENOIT
Simon Bruty
Turley, nearing the end of his rookie contract, had been a negotiating a long-term deal with the Saints. But when GM Randy Mueller was fired and Mickey Loomis took over, things changed—Loomis and head coach Jim Haslett put Turley on the trading block. Just days after he and Stacy were married, he was dealt to St. Louis for a second-round pick.
As part of the trade, he received a new five-year, $26 million deal, with $12 million guaranteed. The money was helpful—much of his first contract’s earnings had been spent on lawyers and private investigators from his first marriage.
A rival of the Rams while with the Saints, Turley had been leery of their head coach, Mike Martz. The magnitude of the trade left him encouraged for their relationship, but he later came to believe that it was actually Rams GM Jay Zygmunt who pushed for his acquisition.
Martz’s system demanded a lot of offensive tackles. Turley played well that first year, 2003, but in Week 7 against Green Bay, he was knocked out with a concussion. The FOX announcers remarked that even the smelling salts weren’t waking him. Stacy says she had been instructed to take Kyle home after the game.
In the tunnel she came across Packers defensive end Joe Johnson, who played with Turley in New Orleans. “Stacy, KT is really f---ed up,” Johnson said. “Take him to a hospital!” Panicked, Stacy found a stadium police officer to drive them, sirens on.
A scan revealed dark masses on Turley’s brain. Doctors shrugged. That’s just what you get with football players. Two days later Turley was back at practice. To make sure he was O.K., the Rams had him sustain bull rushes from defensive end Leonard Little. “Just to see if I could stay conscious,” Turley says. “That was the test back then.” He didn’t miss a game.
Stacy would come to look back on her husband’s brain scan through a very different light, but at the time, she was more worried about the rest of his body. Besides football’s usual wear and tear, he had a back problem that sent pain down his leg.
Turley was prescribed a litany of medications—painkillers, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories, sleep aides, etc.—and finished out the season. St. Louis went 12-4 but lost to Carolina in the divisional round.
Simon Bruty
Two weeks later Kyle was off most of the medications. One day Stacy heard him shouting from the bathroom, panicking at the site of his atrophied right buttocks, hanging down by his hamstring like a deflated balloon. He had back surgery, and suddenly his mission shifted from chasing Pro Bowls to just getting healthy.
It became a grueling journey, with a few ups but mostly debilitating downs. He was with his teammates often in 2004 but never got on the field. His rehab remained arduous. When asked about Turley at a press conference, Martz said he didn’t know if Turley even wanted to play football. Kyle and Stacy were furious.
Soon after, Turley met with Martz. Turley claims the head coach accused him of coming to St. Louis to take the money and run. Turley became volatile, said his piece and stormed out. Before he got home, Stacy got a call from her dad. “What did Kyle do?!” he asked.
That’s how she learned her husband’s name was ticking across the bottom of ESPN screens, with a report saying he had threatened his head coach’s life. (Kyle and Stacy refute this, saying that Turley had immediately told Zygmunt of their argument. They believe the only way the story could have gotten out so quickly was by Martz taking it to the media himself.)
Martz remembers it differently. “I never accused him of taking the money and running,” he said when reached by phone. Martz said he and Zygmunt were not communicating well. “There was a certain dishonesty that was in the front office that I had to deal with for a number of years,” As Martz tells it, “Kyle did a great job for us and then he got injured.
After that, he just disappeared. I couldn’t get any information when he was coming back. Couldn’t find him anywhere. Couldn’t reach him. When I asked Jay [Zygmunt] about it, he said he didn’t know either. The obvious part to that is Jay knew exactly what was going on [with Kyle]. I just couldn’t know.
“Kyle was upset with me because he assumed I knew what was going on with him and I didn’t. He accused me of not caring, all those things. I’m looking at him thinking, ‘What is this all about?’ I just let him vent, which everybody in the whole building heard.”
That was the last time Martz ever saw Turley. Even after the ugly episode, Turley was jolted when then Rams cut him after the 2004 season. He’d been working so hard to get healthy. As an NFLPA rep, having negotiated on various league matters, he’d grown to suspect that the NFL was strictly a cutthroat business, that players were just commodities.
Now that was confirmed. The realization did not strike Turley lightly; he is a deep, passionate thinker. Battered and disillusioned, he was 29 and already facing a post-football life.
