- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Miracle! Jeff Fisher Awakens, Realizes It’s 2016, and Sets His Sight on a Quarterback
Posted by: Bernie Miklasz in Bernie Miklasz, National Football League April 14, 2016
Give some credit to Jeff Fisher: it took him a while to adapt and understand that NFL teams win with quality quarterbacks. But at least he’s finally realized that it’s 2016, and the game has changed, and he needs to catch up. Fisher’s preferred style of football, suitable for the leather-helmet era, has gone the way of the dinosaur, as prehistoric as Bronko Nagurski.
JeffFisherLesSneadTo secure the first round pick in the draft, Fisher and Snead’s offer to the Titans includes this year’s 15th, 43rd, 45th and 76th picks.
In a late-career epiphany, Fisher is trying to join the modern age, and get with the flow in a league where the QB position can no longer viewed as an optional accessory. I don’t know if this is a miracle, but the outdated coach has made an important discovery. Maybe Ol’ Fish has been influenced by the celebrity culture in Los Angeles, but the stubborn football coach who ranks third in NFL history for most career losses is suddenly interested in fielding an offense.
As you know, Fisher and his associate, the GM Les Snead, made a stunner of a trade, sending a jeweler’s display case of premium picks to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for the No. 1 overall selection in this year’s NFL draft.
The Rams will use the top selection on a quarterback, either Jared Goff (Cal) or Carson Wentz (North Dakota State). For what it’s worth, ESPN’s wired-in Adam Schefter reports that the Rams favor Goff, a spread-formation slinger that reminds no one of Andrew Luck.
The Titans’ fantastic heist pulled in the Rams’ 15th, 43rd, 45th and 76th picks in this year’s draft. Wait, there’s more … the extravagant payout will continue in 2017, with the Titans adding more draft talent with the Rams’ first-round and third-round selections.
It’s a risky move for the Rams, but the Fisher-Snead regime was stale, and the franchise is setting up operations in the entertainment capital of the world. You don’t go into the LA market with Case Keenum at quarterback as you prepare to launch an ambitious marketing campaign to sell luxury suites and club seats in owner Stan Kroenke’s new stadium, scheduled to open in 2019. By the time the gates open to Kroenke’s eternal monument to wanton NFL greed, it isn’t a reach to suggest he’ll be hawking those suites and seats for the most exorbitant fees in league history.
In Fisher’s first four seasons as the cave-dwelling leader of the Rams, his offense skidded and stalled and prevented the team from posting a winning season or landing in a playoff spot.
This was a trade, yes. And a big one. But it was also a Kroenke-driven effort to generate massive amounts of SoCal entertainment dollars between now and the time they take up residency at Inglewood. And this trade will help Fisher win — even if he doesn’t win many games. More on that in a while…
Here’s where the Rams ranked from 2012 through 2015 in the pertinent categories:
28th in yards per passing attempt
28th in net passing yards
29th in touchdown passes
26th in passer rating
30th in completions of 25+ yards
31st in third-down conversions
30th in offensive touchdowns
32nd in yards from scrimmage
Fisher has assembled a disruptive and hardcore defense, and last year he found gold in drafting star running back Todd Gurley. But that wasn’t enough; this junk car of an offense kept the Rams parked in mediocrity.
aaron donaldDonald is one of only two Pro Bowl players of Snead and Fisher’s 17 picks within the first three draft rounds.
There’s another way to look at this: what the hell were the Rams going to do with all of those desirable draft picks, anyway? Despite Fisher’s ridiculous chest thumping, the Rams came up short in maximizing their return in the famous Robert Griffin III trade with Washington.
In their previous four drafts (2012-2015) the Rams had more picks in the first three rounds (17) than any NFL team. The collection has included outright busts: wide receivers Brian Quick and Stedman Bailey, and running backs Tre Mason and Isaiah Pead. There’s also the terribly disappointing offensive tackle, Greg Robinson, the No. 2 overall selection in 2014. (True fact: Robinson already has accumulated more holding penalties in two seasons than Orlando Pace did in his entire Hall of Fame career.)
Quarterback Sean Mannion, drafted 89th overall last year, was essentially made irrelevant by this trade.
One of the Rams’ better selections, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, defected to the NY Giants via free agency this offseason. These early-round picks brought in some good — but not great — talents such as linebacker Alec Ogletree, cornerback Trumaine Johnson, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, and (maybe) safety T.J. McDonald. And offensive tackle Rob Havenstein had promising 2015 rookie season.
But as of now, the list of 17 premium draft choices features only two Pro Bowl players — true difference makers — in Gurley and defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
Given the erratic talent evaluation in the Fisher-Snead draft war room, why not bundle future picks to gamble on a quarterback that can create a buzz, inspire surface-level hope, sell the Kroenke suites, and extend Fisher’s free pass?
Of course, there’s always the possibility of the Rams screwing this up choosing the wrong quarterback, and if their new passer turns into a flop, the loss of draft choices could lead to damaging consequences.
Considering Fisher’s fickle nature and sketchy history with quarterbacks, there’s no guarantee he’ll choose the right passer.
Fisher hit only one home run with a QB pick, the late Steve McNair, who had some terrific seasons for Tennessee between 1995 and 2005. But Fisher’s quarterback carousel has been spinning wildly since the aging McNair left the building to play his two final seasons (2006, 2007) in Baltimore.
Here’s the list of quarterbacks that have started for Fisher’s teams in Tennessee and St. Louis, post-McNair … and I’ll include the number of games started by each guy:
Vince Young (47)
Kerry Collins (32)
Rusty Smith (1)
Sam Bradford (23)
Kellen Clemens (9)
Shaun Hill (8)
Austin Davis (8)
Nick Foles (11)
Case Keenum (5)
By my count that’s nine quarterbacks for 144 starts and only one — Collins in 2008 — was voted to a Pro Bowl. This chronic quarterback chaos — and Fisher’s incompetence in analyzing candidates — is a significant factor in his decline as a head coach. Fisher won with McNair, but those days are long gone. Fisher has had only two winning records in his last 11 seasons and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2003.
So now Fish wants a quarterback. And he was willing to pay a hefty ransom to book his spot at the top of the draft to take a shot at getting his man. But this also a typical Fisher maneuver. His perpetual rebuilding process will continue in LA. Goff and Wentz have potential, but draft experts don’t cast them as a plug-in starter.
One NFL “analytics director” texted ESPN’s Mike Sando to say the Rams were “crazy” if they believe there’s a transformative QB in this draft.
In assessing the readiness of Goff and Wentz, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. wrote:
“I have Goff as the more NFL-ready passer because of his anticipation, accuracy and pocket instincts, but Wentz has incredible physical tools, a strong arm and a big, athletic frame. In either case you have the potential to draft a player with Pro Bowl upside. But ‘upside’ is the key word here. Wentz is coming out of the FCS and has less than two years of starting experience at that level thanks to a wrist injury this past season. Goff comes out of (a spread) offense and will be in a much different scheme on Fisher’s team. These aren’t knocks, they are just the usual reminders that forcing either of these players onto the field in Week 1 under the banner that ‘Change is here!’ isn’t a great recipe for success. Both of these QBs need developmental time.”
Goff or Wentz are projects, but maybe Fisher will strike it big here. But the inexperienced quarterbacks will likely need two or three years to acclimate to the NFL game — and that’s assuming they’ll succeed at all. That’s pleasantly convenient for Fisher, who now has more time to make excuses and justify another stretch of 6-10 or 7-9 seasons in the team’s LA rollout.
This is a shrewd move by Fisher: draft a quarterback No. 1 overall, and even if the dude bombs out, he’ll still provide value by serving as Fisher’s human shield, to protect the coach from an overdue firing.
Fisher gets to buy time. And with a rookie QB in the house as a marketing tool, Kroenke has time to get the LA fans to buy suites and premium seats.
These are smart people, the coach and the owner. They do not know how to build a winning NFL team, but that’s a secondary concern. The owner certainly knows how to build a stadium of dreams. The coach knows how to build a firewall to reinforce his job security. If you think about it, this is really quite brilliant.
Looking for Frank Cusumano comments. 😉
AgamemnonLongtime NFL writer Howard Balzer joins CineSport’s Noah Coslov to break down the trade.
Still looking for Frank Cusumano comments. 😉
AgamemnonThomas: LA ‘splash’ factor at work in Rams deal By Jim Thomas St. Louis Post-Dispatch 9 hrs ago
Will it be tough selling Case Keenum to Los Angeles as your starting quarterback?
The question, posed to Les Snead at the NFL Scouting Combine, seemed to surprise the Rams’ general manager.
“It’s a team sport,” Snead replied at the time. “The goal is to be selling winning — and consistently winning — not necessarily an individual player.”
But actually, it takes more than just winning to hit it big in LA. You’ve got to win and be flashy doing so. So try as they might to deny this was the case, it’s hard to believe the “splash” factor wasn’t at work in Thursday’s dramatic move up to the No. 1 overall spot in the draft.
During a press conference Thursday in Oxnard, Calif., the first question asked of coach Jeff Fisher was whether the move to LA factored into making the trade.
“I figured that would probably be the first question that comes up,” Fisher replied. “We made this decision and this move for this football team. I think coincidentally it’s great timing.
“Great timing. But this is the best thing for our football team right now. So wherever we could’ve been, we would’ve done the same thing. But when you take into consideration what’s ahead for this franchise, and the enthusiasm and excitement, the timing couldn’t be better.”
We’ll never know if the trade would’ve been made had the team stayed in St. Louis. But it certainly fits in with several other moves designed to get some attention in the fickle Los Angeles sports market — from agreeing to be featured on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” in training camp, to opening preseason play at home on ESPN against the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s LA,” former Rams running back Marshall Faulk said on the NFL Network. “When you look at the Clippers’ star power, when you look at what we saw Kobe Bryant do (Wednesday) night, this fits right in with making a move and making sure that you let people in LA know that the Rams are back.”
The Rams gave up just about everything but the “Hollywood” sign in their new hometown to move up from No. 15 overall in the draft to No. 1 in the mega trade with Tennessee.
Besides that first-round pick, the Rams also are giving up two second-round picks (Nos. 43 and 45 overall) and a third-round pick (No. 76 overall) in this year’s draft. Tennessee also gets the Rams’ first- and third-round picks in the 2017 draft.
Besides the No. 1 pick from Tennessee, the Rams also get fourth- and sixth-round picks from the Titans (Nos. 113 and 177) in this year’s draft.
“They need a quarterback,” said a longtime NFL scout, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And if they think that one of these two guys is the quarterback … It’s a lot to mortgage. I wouldn’t say it’s their only need but obviously it’s their biggest.”
After selecting a quarterback at No. 1 overall on Thursday, April 28 — the first day of the draft — Fisher can head to Disneyland on Friday; the Rams won’t pick again until Day 3 on Saturday.
Maybe he can pull a Mike Ditka and wear a Hawaiian shirt the rest of the draft. That’s what Ditka did as New Orleans coach in 1999 after the Saints basically traded their entire draft to move up to No. 5 overall for Texas running back Ricky Williams.
(The Saints had traded a second-round pick to the Rams for wide receiver Eddie Kennison earlier that offseason, but every other draft pick they possessed in ’99 went to Washington in the trade for Williams.)
“We ransomed the future, and it didn’t work out very good,” said Rick Venturi, now an Indianapolis-based NFL analyst. In ’99, he was the assistant head coach of the Saints.
So if the Rams choose Carson Wentz of North Dakota State, they better hope they’re getting the next Ben Roethlisberger — a strong-armed, big-bodied flamethrower with mobility.
Or if they opt for California’s Jared Goff, he better be the second coming of Aaron Rodgers — a Cal-Berkeley product from a decade ago.
Why? Because this is a Rams team with lots of holes on the roster, more than one would expect for a coach and general manager in their fifth year in the program.
The Rams desperately need an outside threat at wide receiver. Right now, it’s Kenny Britt, Brian Quick, Tavon Austin or bust. There’s no guarantee Stedman Bailey will be playing in 2016 following his gunshot wounds in a drive-by shooting in south Florida last season.
With Jared Cook gone, perhaps Lance Kendricks can take over as the starting tight end, but another tight end is a must anyway.
On defense, the team needs a starting free safety, and has depth needs at linebacker, defensive tackle and, to a lesser extent, cornerback.
After the trade with Tennessee, the Rams have very few draft picks to fill those needs in 2016 or ’17. So they definitely need to hit on some third-day picks.
It also could lead to more bargain hunting in free agency. Or even more emphasis on unearthing undrafted rookies, an area the Rams have done very well with under Fisher and Snead.
But to a large degree, the Rams are gambling on their front-line roster, keeping their fingers crossed that injuries are at a minimum next season.
The trade almost certainly signals the end of quarterback Nick Foles’ short and ill-fated tenure. The Rams undoubtedly will try to trade Foles, but may end up having to release him.
There is a JT video at the link above. Still looking for Frank. 😉
AgamemnonJT is like Bernie only to a much lesser extent, in that he allows his emotions to influence his reporting. For example, the Rams are not a team with “lots of holes on the roster” as JT states. There are holes at WR and QB, possibly LT. TE could use an upgrade but I wouldn’t call it a ‘hole’ per se.
I don’t want to understate the problems facing this team. They haven’t had a winning season since the late Cretaceous but the reason the Rams have not won over the past few years is due to their issues at QB and to a lesser extent WR. They are in pretty good shape at just about every other position with the only issues being depth. Every team including the elite ones are dealing with this issue. Most of the roster is solid and there’s almost an embarrassment of riches at some positions like RB and along the DL. After all, they didnt have to overpay Jenkins because of the depth at CB.
They have some issues but from a roster perspective the Rams are in better shape than JT implies.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
