We already knew that Rob Turner was perhaps the most versatile player on the Jets’ offensive line.
Turner, who backs up Nick Mangold at center and also can play tight end, fullback and both guard positions, was given another role by Rex Ryan: fight instigator.
Ryan revealed in Wednesday’s episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” that he wanted Turner to goad teammate Vernon Gholston, whose docile demeanor off the field never has transferred into anger on it and it’s rendered him an abject disappointment, into a fight in a recent practice.
Turner, who is good for a scuffle in just about every practice and preseason game anyway because of his chippy, on-field demeanor, obliged, inciting Gholston to throw him to the ground during a practice last week.
Since he was drafted as the Jets’ No. 1 pick in 2008, the team has been searching for a pulse out of Gholston.
That’s what prompted Ryan, on camera, to say he had “just the guy” to draw some emotion out of Gholston by getting him involved in a fight — that guy being Turner.
“Rob Turner is a perfect guy to do it,” Ryan said yesterday. “You like to see if a guy will fight back. Sometimes, that’s all a guy needs to know is that he can do it. I mean, who would want to fight Vernon Gholston? Vernon’s strong as an ox, and I think now he’s realizing it. Whatever it takes to get the guys to play to their ability, we’ll do. Guys have roles, and an NFL fight is something good to see guys do.”
Turner, who, ironically, is a mellow guy off the field, doesn’t hide from who he is on the field, conceding, “I’ve gotten into fights at every training camp I’ve been at. My rookie year I probably got into about 15 fights.
“When you come in as a free agent, you understand that you have to do things a little bit better and you have to prove yourself a little bit more. I’m not the best athlete out there, but I don’t have a whole lot of quit in me.”
It came as no surprise to anyone that Turner was in the middle of the two post-play scrums in Monday night’s preseason game against the Giants.
“Rob gets into a fight every day,” Jets right tackle Damien Woody said. “That’s his mentality; he has an edge about him, which is a good thing. I want a guy like that on my team with an edge about him and who doesn’t take anything from anyone.”
Jets defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said he has a theory as to why Turner fights so often.
“I think that Rob is honestly a little bit frustrated,” Jenkins said. “I think he felt he should be involved in that left guard competition [between Matt Slauson and Vladimir Ducasse]. If I were Rob I would probably be doing same thing.
“He’s aggressive and trying to show everybody that he can play. You have to respect that. At the end of the day you respect the aggressiveness.”
Turner said “anybody in their right mind” would want to start in the NFL, but he insisted he’s not angry about being omitted from the competition for the starting left-guard job.
“There’s a much bigger picture than that,” Ryan said. “We want a big body in there, a big presence. Turner [who’s smaller than Slauson and Ducsasse] is a good player, but he’s excellent in his role. We need him as a backup to Mangold, a swing guard who also plays fullback and tight end.
“That’s a lot of hats and he wears a bunch of them. If he goes in to start [at left guard], who’s going to play his role?”–With Bart Hubbuch