SB Nation - Kyle Turley

Former Chiefs Lineman Complains of Concussion Problems

Joel Thorman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:12:21 -0000

Former Kansas City Chiefs tackle Kyle Turley has retired from the game of football but still has some lingering issues from his playing days. Turley talked to Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports regarding some post-playing health issues he's been having.

Turley talked of an incident a few months ago that he called the scariest moment of his life.

"I was having a full-on seizure-type-thing, probably because my potassium levels were so low. I was on a table just flipping around like a fish; I was fully conscious and knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t speak. Realistically, if I hadn’t gone to the hospital, my kidneys could’ve shut down and I probably could have died."

Some medical experts have discussed the possibility of Turley suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which killed former player Andre Waters a couple years ago.

Turley claims he received "inadequate treatment" from the three teams he played for in his career including the Kansas City Chiefs. He talked about the possibility of suing the NFL, though he blames the NFLPA as well. Ultimately, though, Turley wants the system changed.

Representatives from the Chiefs, New Orleans Saints and St. Louis Rams declined comment for the story.

One of the scariest things about this is that Turley thought he wasn't one of the guys that had a lot of head trauma relative to the rest of the NFL. One NFL player, Sean Morey of the Arizona Cardinals, figured about 50% of concussions go unreported.

Silver discussed the possibility of NFL doctors having a conflict of interest. On the one hand, they're there as medical professionals to the players. On the other hand, they're employees of the team that wants the player on the field.

Morey expounded upon the difficulties the players face when it comes to concussions.

"Professional players naturally want to play," Morey says. "We want to keep our jobs, we have loyalty to our coaches and teammates, and we desperately want to win. Typically, when we get a concussion, our first reaction is to avoid the trainer at all costs. That’s just our mentality, our culture."

Turley told a story while with the Chiefs. He was sitting in a cold tub with teammate Rich Scanlon following a game at Arrowhead.

"He came in and had a broken nose that was cracked all the way across," Turley recalls. "All of a sudden, in 50-degree water, he passes out. I went and told the trainers and doctors and they said, ‘He’s all right.’ I said, ‘No, he’s not. If you guys let this guy go home right now, I’m gonna file a report against you for negligence.’ He ended up in the hospital, and they kept him for a couple of days."

Wow.

Keep in mind that we're hearing one side of the story. The Chiefs declined when Yahoo! Sports asked to speak with team doctors and trainers that were involved.

Definitely check out the whole story. And, we'll follow Josh Looney's lead in wishing Turley the best of health and success in his post-playing career.

CSC All-Time Saints Team Election: Guard No. 1

Saintsational — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:00:31 -0000

It's time now to vote for another member to be elected to our CSC All-Time Saints team. If you missed our first guard nomination post yesterday you can catch it right here.

Not surprisingly, I missed a few notable players so I've added Jake Kupp, Conrad Dobler and Kyle Turley. The polls will be open for exactly 48 hours which means they will close at 6am on Tuesday, July 14th. You only get one vote so make it count. You can make a difference. If you've never voted in a CSC poll to date, now is the perfect time to start. Be sure to tell everyone you know to come on over and vote as well. Don't forget that you will have a chance to vote for the second guard position at a later date.

As always, the comment section is open for more discussion about these great players and the way things used to be.

Poll

Who should be selected as the first guard for the CSC All-Time Saints team?

Jim Dombrowski

106 votes

Steve Korte

3 votes

LeCharles Bentley

25 votes

Joel Hilgenberg

14 votes

Jake Kupp

7 votes

Conrad Dobler

10 votes

Kyle Turley

42 votes

207 votes | Poll has closed

CSC All-Time Saints Team Nominations: Offensive Tackle

Saintsational — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:00:16 -0000

We now return to our regularly scheduled CSC programming. Today we get back to selecting players for our Canal Street Chronicles All-Time Saints team. To get back into the swing of things, today we'll take a look at offensive tackles.

Below is a list of players I've researched and deemed worthy of inclusion in our discussion of great Saints offensive tackles. There aren't really any stats for the position so decisions will inevitably come down to more than just numbers. For the purpose of this project we won't delineate between left and right tackle because the position is often interchangeable.

The poll will open at 6am Central tomorrow morning and will be open for exactly 48 hours, ending on Saturday, June 13tth. Remember again that we will hold a separate election for the second offensive tackle position.

I now open it up for any other nominations or players that you just can't believe I missed. Talk it out in the comment section. It's a lot more difficult to find information about offensive lineman so there very well may be a glaring omission. I would also love to hear some personal rumination from our readers who've actually watched these guys plays.

Willie Roaf

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 320

D.O.B.: 4/18/1970

College: Louisiana Tech

NFL Experience: 13 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 1993-2001

Notables: 11-time Pro Bowler & 3-time first-team All-Pro.

Stan Brock

Height: 6'6"

Weight: 295

D.O.B.: 6/8/1958

College: Colorado

NFL Experience: 16 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 1980-1992

Jammal Brown

Height: 6'6"

Weight: 313

D.O.B.: 3/30/1981

College: Oklahoma

NFL Experience: 4 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 2005-

Notables: 2-time Pro Bowler & 1-time first-team All-Pro.

Kyle Turley

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 306

D.O.B.: 9/24/1975

College: San Diego State

NFL Experience: 9 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 1998-2002

Notables: 1-time first-team All-Pro