St. Louis signs kick returner who was impaled, then cut

~ The former Eagles player was severely injured shortly after playing in the Super Bowl.

ST. LOUIS -- Having survived impalement, exhibiting courage as a kickoff returner will be no problem at all for the St. Louis Rams' newest player.

Three days after playing in the 2005 Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, J.R. Reed failed in an attempt to leap a chest-high wrought-iron fence adorned with decorative spikes. He found himself hanging upside down with one of the spikes gouging his left leg behind the knee, the blood pouring out.

When he was finally rescued, he discovered he couldn't walk because of nerve damage to the left leg.

"They said I would never play again, that I was done," Reed said Tuesday. "At first, I believed them."

Reed, a fourth-round pick of the Eagles in 2004, had a big rookie season with a 23.1-yard average on kickoff returns that ranked second among rookies. He also had 20 special teams tackles.

He spent all of 2005 trying to make it back after a Baltimore physician, Dr. Tom Graham, designed a special brace to overcome the lack of nerves firing to his foot. He'll always walk with a limp, his foot flopping into place.

Last year, he said, was "the worst year of my life," with the lone spot earning a degree from South Florida.

"I played in the Super Bowl, then I went to the Daytona 500 two days later, then I drove to Tampa and got hurt," Reed said. "I was on top of the world, then I went into depression.

"Everybody told me I couldn't do it, so I couldn't take no for an answer."

Wearing the brace, he's good enough to convince the Rams to give up for now on fifth-round pick Marques Hagans, a quarterback at Virginia whom the team was trying to convert to a return man and X-factor in the offense. Hagans was released on Monday when the Rams signed Reed, who was among the Eagles' final cuts, although the Rams later signed Hagans to their practice squad on Tuesday.

"He's certainly got every reason in the world not to be able to pass a physical, but there's something about his will and desire and want-to that impressed all of us," coach Scott Linehan said. "I know it was a tough cut for Philly and I think it's to our advantage.

"He's certainly got it inside of him to overcome any questions."

Reed calls Graham a "pioneer" in the field of nerve damage, and praised him for refining the brace to the point where he could resume the career he once nearly lost. Two weeks before the first of the Eagles' minicamps this spring he asked for another chance.

"They said I looked good," Reed said. "So, I went through the training camp, I was back, and now I'm here."

The unsolved mystery in Reed's feel good comeback story is why he vaulted the fence in the first place. He's heard the theories: that he was running from dogs, that he was being pursued by police, and "all kinds of crazy stuff," and he's keeping the truth to himself.

"Nobody knows the story," he said. "I don't tell the story. I was jumping the fence and I didn't make it."

Notes: The beginning of the regular season is bringing severe media restrictions to the Rams. For the first time since moving to the Midwest in 1995, they have closed practices during the regular season, and media can attend only the first half-hour. According to an annual survey by the Pro Football Writers Association, only nine teams still have open practices, but that total includes both Super Bowl participants from last season. They're also one of only seven teams that have extremely limited access or no access to assistant coaches, and one of four that did not hold a pre-draft news conference. Linehan is a disciple of Dolphins coach Nick Saban, who keeps Miami media on a very tight leash. "You never really know what eyes are watching," Linehan told reporters. "I really hope that none of you take it personal." ... DE Anthony Hargrove missed practice on Tuesday after his left arm was drained of fluid.