As the Miami Dolphins prepare to send their coaching staff to Indianapolis for the 2014 Scouting Combine, an embattled member of the organization apparently will be making the trip.
Alex Marvez of FOX Sports reports that the signs currently are pointing to offensive line coach Jim Turner joining his colleagues in Indy.
It’s a surprise on the surface, given the various aspects of the Ted Wells report that characterize Turner as someone who participated in harassment, misled coach Joe Philbin about its existence, lied to investigators, and tried to cajole Jonathan Martin into exonerating Richie Incognito. But as Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald explained during Monday’s edition of The Dan Patrick Show, the Dolphins likely will wait to take action against Turner until the league office imposes punishment.
Why fire Turner when the NFL may suspend him for the next year, or longer? At that point, it becomes much cleaner and easier to sever ties with Turner, which seems inevitable at this point.
Still, it would seem to be sensible to have a conversation with Turner explaining that he’s likely getting suspended and if he’s not suspended he’s getting fired anyway, so maybe he should sit this one out.
Unless, of course, the Dolphins decide to do the ultimate Dolphins thing and continue the employment of a member of the coaching staff who contributed to the atmosphere that prompted Martin to leave the team, who applied a strong-armed guilt trip to Martin, and who then tried to cover up Turner’s full involvement by not telling the truth to investigators.