Rams Let Brock Go--Quietly : Quarterback Allowed to Slip Out of Town
Perhaps it was fitting that the Rams let quarterback Dieter Brock slip quietly out of town.
This town wasn’t very good for him anyway.
Friday, the Rams officially put the 35-year-old Brock on waivers, ending what might be the last bizarre chapter of Ram quarterback history for perhaps another decade.
By the time the news was released, Brock was holed up at a friend’s home in Birmingham, Ala., unavailable for comment. The Rams had told Brock of his release Monday.
His stay in Los Angeles was short and sour. In March 1985, the Rams made Brock, then 34, the oldest National Football League rookie when they signed the former Canadian Football League star to a multiyear contract.
Legendary stories of his throwing prowess made their way south, but Brock never became the NFL star he had hoped to become.
Instead, he became widely criticized for his 1985 season and his role in the Rams’ 24-0 NFC championship loss to the Chicago Bears. Brock completed 10 of 31 passes for 66 yards in that game and had to live with it in the off-season.
His 1986 season was a disaster from the beginning.
Competing for a starting job with newcomer Steve Bartkowski, Brock injured his left knee in the Rams’ first exhibition game against the Houston Oilers Aug. 5.
He had arthroscopic surgery the following week and was put on injured reserve in early September. He then aggravated a degenerative disk in his back and remained on injured reserve.
Brock’s future with the Rams probably ended Sept. 18, however, when they traded for the rights to Jim Everett, who looms as their quarterback of the future.
In 1985, Brock completed a team-record 59.7% of his passes for 2,658 yards, with 16 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
“I think he clearly wants to play,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “He is now a free agent, and this allows him to negotiate with other clubs. His knee injury is fine. There’s some question about the status of his back.”
The Rams said they released Brock now to give him more time to catch on with another team.
But that doesn’t seem likely because of Brock’s back problems and the fact that he will turn 36 in February.
“If you ask me if he could play today, I’d have to say no,” Brock’s agent, Gil Scott, said.
An NFL player cannot legally be released while still injured, but a Ram spokesman said the team has agreed to assume all contractual responsibility--medical payments and such--if Brock fails to sign with another NFL team.
“That is my understanding, yes,” Scott said. “I don’t think we had a great choice in the matter.”
Scott would not comment on any possible grievance proceedings against the Rams. “I’ve got to see all the ramifications of it,” he said.
The Rams will pay Brock his full 1986 salary of $250,000, as well as a full share of any playoff money.
According to contract figures presented to the NFL Players Assn., Brock will have to repay to the Rams a $300,000 loan that would have been forgiven had he been on the 1987 roster.
Scott, however, disputes those contract figures.
“The whole thing is not accurate,” Scott said. “That’s all I’ll say about it.”
Scott, however, does not dispute Brock’s place in Ram history.
“He fell a game short last year and he took all the heat,” Scott said of his client.
“When Phil Simms and the Giants lost to the Bears in the first round of the playoffs, it was because of the great Bear defense. But when Dieter Brock went into Chicago, it was the too-short Canadian quarterback who couldn’t get the job done. I think he was unfairly criticized.”
