he troubles continue to mount for offensive lineman Claude Terrell, who was arrested early Tuesday morning by Webster, Texas, police and charged with assault-family violence, a Class A misdemeanor.But he's no longer the Rams' problem.

The team announced this afternoon that Terrell, 25, has been released.
Terrell has been in and out of coach Scott Linehan's doghouse for most of the 2006 and '07 seasons. This season, he was fined for showing up late to a team meeting prior to the season opener against Carolina. He subsequently was placed on the team's pregame inactive list for that game.

Last week, Terrell "mouthed off" to Linehan during practice, leading to a profanity-laced outburst by the normally even-keeled coach. Terrell said he later apologized to Linehan and the team.

Because of a rash of injuries on the offensive line, Terrell has started three games for the Rams at guard this season, and is scheduled to start at left guard Sunday in Cleveland because of ankle injuries to Brett Romberg. The Rams are cutting Claude Terrell.

Finally.

That’s just the start. I can think of another guy, knucklehead tight end Dominique Byrd, who shouldn’t be on this team. Let the housecleaning begin.

What follows was written before they made the decision to cut ties with Terrell.

It should have been done a long time ago … but as they say, better late than never.

However, let me pose this question:

Why did it take an arrest for the Rams to take a tough stand here? Terrell has been a goof-off since he got here. He should have been sent packing a long time ago. Had Linehan cut Terrell on the field last week, after Terrell insulted him, that would have carried much more weight and authority. That would have sent a strong message to the rest of the squad. Cutting Terrell now is the easy and automatic thing to do …. the safe thing to do … Linehan could have reinforced his credibility by sacking Terrell BEFORE the arrest. The Rams basically had no choice now. But Linehan could have made that choice last week.