Rams coaches to get extensions

Rams discussing extensions with Jeff Fisher, coaching staff

vid at link: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14872177/los-angeles-rams-jeff-fisher-discussing-extension

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher is unlikely to return to his native Southern California with only one year left on his contract.

The Rams and Fisher are discussing a contract extension, league sources told ESPN, as the 2016 season is the final year of his current deal. Members of Fisher’s coaching staff are also in talks about possible extensions. The deals are not yet finalized but the expectation is that they will get done.

Fisher took over as Rams coach in 2012, signing a five-year deal worth about $35 million after a year away from football. He has since led the team to a 27-36-1 record and no postseason appearances in four seasons.

The Rams went 7-9 in 2015 but made it clear late in the year that Fisher would at least get the chance to guide the team through the move back to Los Angeles and finish his initial contract with the team.

Fisher, a Culver City, California native, has previous experience leading the Houston Oilers through a move to Tennessee in 1997. In taking the Rams back to Los Angeles, Fisher will return to the site of most of his amateur playing days.

Fisher was a wide receiver at Taft High in Woodland Hills, California, and played defensive back at the University of Southern California.

“When things were kind of coming down and [chief operating officer] Kevin [Demoff] called and said, ‘Do you want to be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Rams?’ and I said yes I do,” Fisher said at the scouting combine last week.

“So it’s exciting. I mentioned this; having grown up there, my dad in 1967 took me to the Rams-Eagles game, so I have been a Rams fan since I was a kid. We all grow up as fans as kids. So all those players, the lineup — one of the things that’s been interesting for us that we’ve done, is the last four years we have kind of reached back out to those legends of the organization and brought them in for games and things, and they really appreciate that. So now they are going to be even closer to us.”

Because of the impending move — the Rams must be out of their Rams Park facility by the end of March — Fisher recently stepped down from the NFL’s competition committee. He said it was necessary so he could focus on the details of the move.

“Two weeks ago I had a conversation with the commissioner and I stepped down from the committee, for obvious reasons,” Fisher said. “I spoke to some of the other committee members, and just the time required of me as far as this move is concerned makes this really difficult to commit 100 percent. I look at it as hopefully being a leave of absence. But I’m not participating right now.”

The Rams are expected to open their new Inglewood stadium in 2019. The team will play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2016.

zn wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

We all knew this was coming, right? I would say through 2019.

InvaderRam wrote:

i would think so too. at least through 2019.

Some places out there, it;s a hot topic.

You’re right, here, people are mostly “enh, yeah…”

Yeah, we heard rumors this was going to happen some time ago. It makes sense, really. Continuity is important and Fisher was hired, at least in part, to transition the team and players through the move. Well, the transitional period isn’t over yet and likely won’t be for awhile.

I think Fisher is going to have to start winning real soon though. I don’t think Kroenke will want to unveil his elite stadium without a team to match.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by nittany ram.

Agamemnon wrote:

For some reason this year feels like we are going through a rebuilding phase. We are starting at a higher level, but it still feels like a reset restart redo thing. We did some pruning. We are deciding who is important. Then we build from that. Of course, every year, in a sense, is a rebuild year.

Yeah, I agree with that. Especially on defense. Long and Laurinaitis are gone and Jenkins, Hayes, McLeod, etc could be. Hopefully the team won’t look ‘too’ different, but nothing is ever static in the NFL, or as Nathaniel Benchley put it, “Only earth and sky last forever”. 😉

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by nittany ram.

Fisher has the built-in excuse this year with the move so this year probably wasn’t going to be used to evaluate him anyway. They extend and evaluate over that time. As long as no other “excuses” pop up–he’ll have to do well.