Looking Back, This 2014 Interview I Did With Jonathan Martin's Coach is Extra Chilling
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Source – Ex-NFL player Jonathan Martin was detained at a Los Angeles-area hospital where he went to seek treatment Friday after his threatening Instagram post led to his former high school closing for the day, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
Martin was trying to check himself into the hospital, according to the person who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Nate mentioned this earlier, obviously. But I felt I had to follow up because on my old WEEI show we interviewed Martin’s offensive line coach with the Dolphins Jim Turner back in 2014. This was during the height of the Wells Report investigation and we had Turner on because he was a Masshole who felt like he was set up to be Ted Wells’ fall guy for Bullygate.
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Over the course of the interview he talked about Wells’ tactics, how he kept getting called back in for more interviews, etc. But then he shared this gem about the 2013 offseason when he told Martin he was going to be the starting left tackle:
He says ‘Great! Thank you, coach.’ He feels great about it. He goes home and he doesn’t come back for 48 hours. He didn’t show up to work for two days. So finally I’m like ‘Jesus Christ! Where is he?’ So we went and got him. And I sat him down in front of me and I know there’s a problem because I’m the only one who told him he’s gonna be the starter.
And I’m like ‘Hey, man, you told me you wanted this job, OK? Now you tell me where you’ve been for 48 hours.’ He said ‘Well I’ve been sitting in my room looking out the window.’ And I knew he lived on the 16th floor.
I said ‘Well what does that mean, John? Does that mean what I think it means?’ He says ‘Yeah. I was thinking about jumping.
I was like ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. But is that in the [Wells’ Bullygate] report?’ No.
I’ll be honest, I remembered the interview but not that detail. I wouldn’t remember it now if my old producer Andy hadn’t pulled the cut and played it on the air today. Our focus for the interview was Ted Wells’ preferred methods for railroading somebody in a skewed investigation. Today we come to realize that not only is Jonathan Martin suicidal, but re-realize he has been for a while. The people around him have known that. His team knew that. And the NFL knew that. And if anyone did anything about it, they sure as hell didn’t do enough.
Somewhere there are notes and possibly tapes of Jim Turner telling an NFL investigator that Jonathan Martin wanted to kill himself back in 2013. And in 2018, the league came God only knows how close to having blood on their hands for not doing anything. Because they were too fixated on finding a scapegoat and making Bullygate go away. Now THIS should be a scandal.
Lastly, I have a friend of the family who’s struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. That friend is getting help. If you’re in the same situation, help is available. Ask for it. Find it. Get it. Get well, before there’s any more tragedy.
@jerrythornton1