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| Related Coverage |
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 Notes: Price was right for Johnson |
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| Glenn at a Glance |
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 AGE: 27 (Born July 23, 1974)
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Posted on 03/22/2002 10:00:33 AM PST by Darkshadow
Orlando, Fla. - There are no guarantees that troubled wide receiver Terry Glenn will find peace of mind hundreds of miles from home in a new and starkly different environment.
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But Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman intends to use a proactive approach that will expose Glenn to counseling, mentoring and open lines of communication to make sure he has a chance to revive his career.
"We're just trying to develop a trust between us and he," Sherman said this week during a break at the NFL owners meetings. "When he gets here we'll be supportive. We're going to do everything we can. If it doesn't work it's not because we didn't try. We're not going to drop the ball. We're going to follow through."
Sherman dealt a fourth-round pick this season and a conditional pick next year for Glenn and then paid him a $1 million signing bonus because he was desperate for help at the receiver position. Of all the things people told Sherman about Glenn, the one thing they all agreed upon is that he is a marvelously talented player who loves to perform.
He is generally happiest when he is on the football field and when everything is right he can be a force in the passing game. Not even the New England Patriots, who washed their hands of him after he pushed them to their limit with his disruptive behavior, would deny he can play the game.
"Terry has a lot of talent," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "Terry is a smart guy. I think he does a lot of really good things on the football field. If he can get his game in place then he can be a really productive player."
It is Glenn's personal problems and injury history that create doubts about whether he'll ever reach his full potential. He has admitted publicly that he suffers from depression. He has two strikes on him in the substance abuse program, one for testing positive for marijuana use and another for missing a test.
He is a loner who became increasingly isolated when the Patriots got rid of receiver Shawn Jefferson, tight end Ben Coates and running back Curtis Martin, three of his closest friends on the team.
Glenn overcame the greatest of odds to make it to the National Football League - his mother was murdered when he was 13, and he lost his best friend to a car accident in high school. Some wonder if he'll ever be able to handle the demands of playing professional football again.
"There's no way I can speak on any of Terry's personal issues with the confidentiality rules (that) prohibit me from saying anything about it," Belichick said when asked if Glenn's problems were deep-seated. "I can't say anything about it."
Sherman did a lot of homework before swinging the trade for Glenn, contacting Glenn's college coach, John Cooper, his first professional coach, Bill Parcells, and various people in the Patriots' organization. All of them, Sherman said, told him Glenn wasn't a bad person.
"Everybody I talked to, Bill Belichick, they say, 'He's a good kid, but. . . .'" Sherman said. "The kid has gone through an enormous amount of problems. Many of his problems were self-inflicted obviously. Some were not.
"There's things you can understand. They're not right, but I understand. I don't claim to have a magic wand, but I have a lot of confidence in my ability to get people to trust me and know that I'm going to be working for them instead of against them. I'm not a certified psychologist, but I feel it's worth it."
Sherman's first attempt to make sure Glenn doesn't fall through the cracks in Green Bay was to assign Packers director of player programs Edgar Bennett to be Glenn's mentor. Bennett, a former Packers running back, flew to Columbus, Ohio, last week and spent an entire day with Glenn.
The two mostly talked. Sherman was as impressed that Glenn made all his appointments, picked Bennett up at his hotel, drove him around town and took him to the airport as he was with his responsiveness to Bennett.
The two will be together a lot when Glenn reports Monday for off-season workouts.
"I'm very aware of his problems and what he needs and I think Edgar Bennett will help him a lot," Sherman said. "The players respect him. They like him. They listen to him. Edgar is as good a man as there is. Edgar said he spent the whole day talking and almost missed his flight because of it."
Sherman has not made counseling mandatory to Glenn, but he intends to discuss it with him and believes he will make use of it if Sherman recommends it. The Packers offer professional counseling to all of their players and has suggested it for those he feels are in need.
The one thing he thinks will be critical to Glenn's success will be open lines of communication.
"My observation was communication had stopped," Sherman said of his Patriots experience. "The bottom line is he has to be accountable. It's his life, his career. He needs to set things straight with our football team. A person has to be accountable. We're going to be very proactive, try to help him be successful."
Though Glenn is in the substance abuse program and was suspended for four games last season, Sherman said he is certain drugs aren't a part of Glenn's life. He said he has been told that Glenn tested positive just once during his professional career and freely admits he was guilty of the crime.
"I talked to John Cooper about that," Sherman said. "It was never a problem. He tested positive for marijuana one time. They put him in the program, he admitted to it. It's the only time he tested positive. Even the last time when he missed the drug test (and was suspended) he tested negative afterward. I made my decision drugs weren't the problem. Missing the drug test was."
Sherman said he has not invoked a "no tolerance" policy for Glenn because he doesn't want to create unnecessary pressure on him right away. How he treats Glenn, however, will be watched closely by the other players and any perceived favoritism could work against him.
There's a lot of risk involved with taking Glenn aboard and Sherman knows it.
"In this profession, it seems like there's such a desire to build up boundaries and build up walls," Sherman said. "I don't believe in that. Communication is the No. 1 reason why people fail, why relationships fail.
"I think you communicate with a guy, tell him what you want, what you expect, hold him accountable to that without being suffocating in the process. We'll see. It's definitely a risk. But our investment here, compared to our reward is not high, other than our time."
-Eric
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