Gray Has Gone From Pro Bowl-Caliber to Reserve : Rams: After being burned in Atlanta, he is replaced at cornerback by No. 1 draft pick Lyght.
A quietly defiant Jerry Gray, the wrong cornerback at the wrong time in the wrong system, proudly took his place as a backup defensive back Wednesday, only two seasons after being named the most valuable player in the Pro Bowl.
No. 1 draft choice Todd Lyght, as expected, officially was moved ahead of Gray, 28, at left cornerback for this Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints at Anaheim Stadium--and almost certainly for the rest of this season.
Gray, signed through 1992 at $725,000 a season, unofficially was moved into deep limbo and quite possibly will never start another game for a Ram defense determined to move forward.
Both Gray and Lyght were informed of the decision by defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher Monday.
Gray, a four-time Pro Bowl player who concedes that he has lost a step or two, becomes a backup safety and possibly an extra cornerback on passing downs. He suggested that he will demand to be traded at the end of the season if he remains out of the team’s plans.
“I think it would be hard for a guy to be starting for six years, and then they ask you to back up,” said Gray, a first-round pick out of Texas in 1985. “No way. I’m not going to be a backup. So I guess I will be somewhere else next year.”
Coach John Robinson said there was no way to predict what will happen and emphasized that Gray has the intelligence and ability to be a great free safety. Robinson also suggested that Gray might regain his cornerback job, even though he has struggled while making the transition from Fritz Shurmur’s zone style to Fisher’s new man-to-man scheme and never has fully recovered from knee surgery early last season.
“We’re looking at what he feels--and we feel--is a loss of some speed at that position,” Robinson said. “Whether that can come back or does come back, or safety becomes a better position for him, that he becomes a high-level safety, none of us know that.”
Although he sounded as if he had expected the move after giving up a 55-yard touchdown pass in last Sunday’s 31-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Gray said he was mildly surprised by his demotion.
And he seemed even more miffed by the Rams’ decision not to work him into a major role at free safety, a position he has wanted to play all of his pro career.
Free safety Pat Terrell and strong safeties Michael Stewart and Anthony Newman are younger and faster than Gray and do not figure to lose playing time to him. At the moment, Gray is listed solely as a backup to Newman--a backup himself--as an extra safety on pass downs.
“I gave them everything I had,” Gray said. “And I think being a Pro Bowl player. . . . If you want me out on the field, you find a spot for me. They have some good guys that play safety, but I think if you put me right in there, it’s going to make it a lot better.
“I guess it’s a move that they feel they had to make. . . .
“I’m a team guy. I’ve been a team guy ever since I’ve been here. And something like this is going to make you have to suck it up. I guess you can kind of (liken it to) what Ronnie Lott went through (with the San Francisco 49ers.)
“It’s going to happen to everybody, but I think most of the time, when you’re 28 years old (and) you’ve been to the Pro Bowl four times (and) only played seven years, it doesn’t happen to that type of guy. I think there’s (usually) at least some leeway.
“(But) I think you have to be big enough to accept it and go on and do something else.”
Fisher said the move was nothing more than the natural maturing of a young player (Lyght) who must play to get better, and that Gray will make more than cameo appearances in the nickel defense.
Lyght, a better man-to-man defender than Gray, was the fifth player selected in this year’s draft. Lyght will earn an average annual salary of $1.1 million for the next five seasons.
“There’s not a controversy here,” Fisher said. “Hey, (Gray) is a tremendous athlete, I understand that. He’s a great athlete, had a great career. . . . (But) we drafted a guy in the first round to play corner, and now it’s time for this guy to play corner.”
However upset Gray was by the decision, he did not take it out on Lyght, who was originally supposed to take right cornerback Darryl Henley’s job--a move that was sidetracked because of Henley’s standout play this season. But Gray did have a warning.
“One thing he (Lyght) has to do, the pressure’s going to shift from me,” Gray said. “It’s going to be on his shoulders. He has to show up on Sunday now, and if he doesn’t do the job, they’ll get somebody else.”
Lyght said he was grateful that Gray took the time to speak to him.
“It makes it a lot easier,” Lyght said. “I know in some situations, you know the player would be very upset. But Jerry hasn’t been that way at all. He’s been very helpful to me, and I think that’s going to make my transition into the starting role a lot easier.”
