Youngblood Retirement Likely

Jack Youngblood was a no-show at Rams Park on Monday, but he’ll probably be there today to announce his retirement.

The Rams have called a press conference for 9:30 a.m., the purpose of which was thinly veiled.

“We’ll know tomorrow whether he’s going to come back or retire,” Coach John Robinson said.

There would probably be no press conference if Youngblood intended to play.

Youngblood, a Ram defensive end for 14 years, was allowed to miss training camp to rehabilitate his injured back. He had said as late as Sunday that he planned to start testing it in practice Monday to determine if he could play.

But he failed to appear even for Monday morning’s team meetings.

Robinson said: “We had a reason that postponed it a day. We talked this morning and felt like there was one more thing we wanted him to do.”

Youngblood wanted to tell team owner Georgia Frontiere of his decision first.

Within the past year Youngblood had discussed with Frontiere the possibility of working with the Rams in some other capacity after he retired--probably in a promotional area but definitely not as a coach.