Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher hopes injured receiver Stedman Bailey can assist the team’s coaching staff.
“There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that needs to be done,” Fisher said after the Rams completed their fifth session of organized team activities at the Residence Inn Oxnard River Ridge.
“We’ll put him behind the desk and bring him out on the field and see how he likes it.”
Bailey, who Fisher described as “an outstanding special teams player,” has worked with members of the Rams punt coverage team during the organized team activities, Fisher said. The Rams placed Bailey on the reserve list today, one day after he was placed on waivers because of what the team described under the league’s rules as a non-football injury.
League rules required the Rams to place Bailey on waivers, and for the league’s 31 other teams to pass on Bailey, before he could be put on the reserve list. Bailey was shot multiple times in November and was sidelined for the rest of the 2015 season when the Rams were based in St. Louis.
Bailey has been with the Rams since they started their off-season program April 18, but will not be able to play, Fisher said.
“As I’ve said numerous times, he’s lucky to be alive,” Fisher said
“So impressed he’s gotten back into shape. Willing to play, but really at this point, there’s no medical research that will permit him to play. He’s seen several specialists. With that being said, we’re going to take care of Stedman.”
Bailey was chosen by the Rams in the third round of the 2013 draft out of West Virginia. He caught 59 passes for 843 yards and two touchdowns over three seasons.
In 2015, when the Rams were based in St. Louis, Bailey was 10th on the team in receiving, catching 12 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown in eight games. Bailey was serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy when he was shot.
Bailey was suspended for four games in the 2014 season for violating the league’s policy on performance enhancing substances.
The Rams waived two other players on Tuesday — receiver Kain Colter and linebacker Zack Hodges and terminated the contract of defensive tackle Doug Worthington.
Worthington played two games with the Rams in 2015, but did not make a tackle.
Colter was the first player signed by the Rams after NFL owners gave them permission to return to Los Angeles. He was a quarterback at Northwestern who spent the 2014 season on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad as a receiver.
Hodges is a Harvard alumnus who was on the Rams practice squad in 2015.
Worthington’s termination and Bailey, Colter and Hodges being placed on waivers opened four spots on the 90-man roster, which the Rams filled by signing quarterback Dylan Thompson, tight end Benson Browne, running back Terrence Magee and defensive tackle Cam Thomas.
Thomas played for the San Diego Chargers from 2010-2013 and the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2014-15. Thompson was with the San Francisco 49ers last season but did not play. Magee had two carries for five yards in four game with the Baltimore Ravens last season. Browne is a rookie who was bypassed in April’s NFL draft.
The Los Angeles Rams announced Thursday they had waived receiver Stedman Bailey and two other players, terminated defensive tackle Dough Worthington and signed four players, including quarterback Dylan Thompson.
—City News Service