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Heyward is released without any fuss
Thursday, September 3, 1998
By Jim Thomas
Of The Post-Dispatch
* Coach Dick Vermeil decided not to bother having the fullback travel to St. Louis
As divorces go, this one was surprisingly amicable.
Craig "Ironhead" Heyward made a plane reservation Tuesday for St. Louis,
with a Wednesday arrival. Then he decided to drive up later in the week.
When coach Dick Vermeil caught wind of Heyward's travel plans, the Rams
called Heyward's agent, Jack Mills, on Wednesday morning to say: "Don't
bother. We'll just release him."
So long, Ironhead.
Initially, Vermeil said, "I was looking for the opportunity to visit with
him face to face, say what I had to say, and let it go like that."
(Translation: Give Heyward a piece of his mind.)
But then Vermeil decided otherwise. Why put Heyward through the trouble of
traveling to St. Louis, from his offseason home in Atlanta, just to release
him?
"I think it's just as well that Craig go on with the rest of his career,"
Vermeil said. "I'm sorry it didn't work out. I put myself in a position
that created this end result, when the player did not respond."
Namely, Vermeil took a hard-line stance by instructing Heyward to show up
for training camp at 260 pounds, or else. The "or else" finally happened
Wednesday with Heyward's release.
This might have been avoided if Heyward had shown up in July at 260 pounds
and Vermeil refrained from fat jokes involving the fullback. But neither
happened. Heyward was a no-show for a scheduled weigh-in July 24. The Rams placed him on their reserve/did not report list. That put Heyward's career in limbo until he decided to report, which eventually would have happened this week.
"I was going to just pop up and blend in with the scenery," Heyward joked
in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I was wondering, are they going to retire my number?"
But unlike his anti-Vermeil salvo of a couple of weeks ago, when he asked
to be released, Heyward took no parting shots. Well, almost none.
"I wish him a lot of success," Heyward said of Vermeil. Then he playfully
added: "Tell him the new Zest commercial is doing quite well."
Vermeil had sarcastically said Heyward would have to sell a lot of soap
with his television commercials to make up for the four-year, $4.5 million
contract he signed with the Rams before the 1997 season.
Heyward got his $1.3 million signing bonus and his '97 base salary of
$360,000 from the Rams, but that's it. He was scheduled to make a base
salary of $650,000 this season, so the Rams realize a salary cap savings of that amount this season.
"I guess it's best that we part ways," Heyward said. "I'm just grateful and
thankful that my wish (to be released) came true. I feel like I've been on
a roller-coaster ride like the stock market."
As for that $195,000 in fine money Heyward was assessed for being AWOL? Now
that he's released, the Rams can no longer collect it.
"So I think this more or less ends the saga of Craig Heyward," Vermeil
said. "I apologized to the management and to the ownership for bringing him here. You hate to make mistakes in signing free agents. Everybody does it, but sometimes you think you're immune.
"And I proved I am not immune. I brought him here based on film studies in
Atlanta, based on a 1,000-yard rushing year, based on his performance on
special teams, based on what Frank Gansz told me about him."
Gansz, the Rams special teams coach, had joined Vermeil's staff from the
Falcons staff in Atlanta, where he had helped coach Heyward.
"It became obvious that Ironhead didn't want to be here as much as he
wanted to be in Atlanta," Vermeil said. "Therefore it didn't work for us. I was trying to get our money's worth by taking the approach I took."
Ram-blings: Wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim (hand) and linebacker Roman Phifer
(hamstring) have been officially listed as out for the New Orleans game on
the Rams midweek injury report. Center Mike Gruttadauria (knee) was listed as doubtful. . . . Safety Toby Wright tried to practice Wednesday but stopped because of soreness in his surgically repaired knee. He tore some scar tissue in the knee against Kansas City. Wright says he will practice today. . . .
The
Rams waived cornerback Willie Clark, meaning Ryan McNeil will dress for the
Saints game. Vermeil isn't sure how much McNeil will play.
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