Final cuts are coming and that means some dreams are ending permanently.
The Chicago Bears must reduce their roster from 87 to 53 by Tuesday’s 3 p.m. deadline, meaning 34 players need to be removed. The vast majority will be young players who are placed on waivers.
That means one thing: The Turk is lurking. This year, cameras from HBO’s “Hard Knocks” will likely capture parts of the process.
The Turk is the person responsible for summoning those players who are being released. They are the messenger. It could be a phone call. A knock on a door. A tap on the shoulder. The Bears are scheduled to be off Tuesday, so in many cases, it could mean a call or text message to report to the building.
“It’s the worst part of the job,” Jeremy Snyder told the Tribune in 2011.
Snyder previously worked for the Bears as a football operations assistant from 2004-2008, and part of his responsibilities included ushering players through the process of moving on. At the time of the interview, Snyder worked for the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL. Now, he’s employed by the Ottawa Redblacks.
“You see the kids come in, especially when they’re young and they’re rookies, they’re happy because their dream is being realized,” Snyder said. “The undrafted guys are just happy to be with a team.
“Then, when a couple weeks roll by and the cuts start to happen, you see everyone’s faces start to change, especially when they see you because I got to sign them. I helped them do their paperwork, I’d have small talk with them and see where they were and gauge them quickly and get a quick snapshot of them. After a while, the veterans get to them and they understand what my final job really is for them — I am going to have to come get them.”
Another former Bears staffer who once shared the task at Halas Hall described the role on the condition of anonymity as he now works for another NFL team. “It’s the worst day of the year. I’m not having any fun saying, ‘Come with me, it’s time to go,’ but it’s time to go. The only thing you can do is be as respectful as possible. Some of these guys won’t play football ever again. Most know it’s coming though.”
Former Tribune contributor Matt Bowen hid in his room as a rookie with the St. Louis Rams in 2000. All of the draft picks and rookies were on the same floor in a dorm at Western Illinois during training camp, which lasted longer back then.
“When he got off the elevator, people would yell, ‘Turk is coming,’” Bowen said. “And everyone would run and hide. It was like cockroaches fleeing. He’d come around right before curfew and everyone would be on the floor. He’d grab a couple people and kill their dreams.
“Everyone got super quiet because they wanted to hear what door he was knocking on. You talk about people being nervous. You’re praying he doesn’t knock on your door and when he knocks on the door next to you, you jump.”
Along those lines, one scout who worked for an NFC East team had the Turk on his list of assignments. A veteran player in the locker room dubbed him “Dream Crusher,” a nickname that stuck.
“I could be walking into the locker room and it could be for something like going to see the equipment guys,” said the scout, who now works for another club. “This vet would see me and announce to the whole room, ‘Here’s Dream Crusher!’”
The process isn’t fast, and the Turk has to escort the player throughout Halas Hall until he’s out the door and on the way to the airport or wherever he’s staying. That could mean visits to the equipment manager and trainer, and then a full tour upstairs with personnel folks and possibly multiple coaches. The Turk guides them every step of the way.
One time, Snyder searched the building high and low for a veteran linebacker who was being cut. The linebacker had left the building thinking he had made it through the roster shuffling. It turned into a scramble to get him to return to be released. Snyder had to cut offensive lineman Bryan Anderson, a Bears’ seventh-round pick in 2003, multiple times. Each time it was more laborious.
“It was inevitable,” Snyder said. “And he should have gotten used to the process.”
“(Kicker Paul) Edinger was the hardest one to do,” Snyder said. “It wasn’t because I liked him, but you knew how the team felt about him. He was well liked by all of them. And if you remember in OTAs, they had that kicking competition with the Jets guy (Doug Brien). The day that he was cut, Paul actually beat him in the kicking contest.”
The reward? Goodbye.
What advice would Snyder give someone tasked with the responsibility of rounding up players and herding them out the door?
“Be professional and understand you are crushing someone’s dreams at that moment in time,” he said. “Try to put yourself in their shoes and how you would want to be treated.”
Above all else, keep in mind one thing about the entire process.
“Everyone feels like dog (poop),” Snyder said.
Even the Turk.