Rams hire qb coach

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/article-5/Shane-Carden-among-QBs-staking-claim-as-diamonds-in-the-rough-/a5d81d93-3fae-4165-bce8-5b199fec7cde

Carden’s been working hand-in-hand with former Florida State Heisman-winning quarterback Chris Weinke at IMG academy in Florida. Weinke is fast becoming a guru in the pre-draft process. He most recently mentored Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill, refining their games and prepping the players for the combine.

Weinke’s biggest focus? Shedding the label that Carden is simply a system quarterback who piled up inflated stats with the Pirates. Carden knows he’ll have to answer that question to every NFL team that talks to him, and he’s ready for it.

BTW Weinke and Cignetti know each other from when they were both in SF (2007).

Rams notes: Weinke hired as QBs coach

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-notes-weinke-hired-as-qbs-coach/article_bb5fef78-3342-548e-b435-e6bce6c81e71.html

INDIANAPOLIS • The Rams have a new quarterbacks coach, and it’s not Jeff Garcia. Garcia interviewed with the Rams last week, but the job has gone to Chris Weinke instead.

Coach Jeff Fisher will make the hire official at his scheduled media session Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Weinke was interviewed by Fisher prior to Garcia’s interview. Fisher was very impressed with what he heard from Weinke, impressed enough to hire the former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Florida State.

Weinke, 42, played seven seasons in the NFL with Carolina and San Francisco, and was a backup on the Panthers’ Super Bowl team in 2003. Since 2010, he has been director of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he has trained several current NFL quarterbacks including Cam Newton.

Weinke replaces Frank Cignetti, who was promoted to offensive coordinator by Fisher. There is a tie with Cignetti because Weinke finished his playing career with San Francisco in 2007, while Cignetti was quarterbacks coach for the 49ers that season.

A FUTURE FOR DAVIS?

The Rams haven’t given up yet on Austin Davis in their evolving quarterback picture.

“I think if you had to play him tomorrow, he would be better than he was the first game (in 2014) just because of the experience that he got,” general manager Les Snead said. “He played some great games and got the least amount of defensive help, which probably cost him in the win column.”

Taking over in the third quarter of the season opener for an injured Shaun Hill, Davis started the next eight games of the season before giving way to Hill at midseason. The Rams lost five of eight games with Davis as the starter, but blew a 21-point lead against Dallas and nearly rallied from a huge deficit in a six-point loss to Philadelphia.

“I think what happens, and most quarterbacks figure this out, is the more reps you play teams start figuring out what’s your strengths, what’s your weaknesses, and start taking your strengths away,” Snead said.

“I think that’s the next hurdle a guy like Austin Davis has to clear. I think he got better sitting down because now he can slow things down and the next time I think he’ll be a lot clearer.”

Davis is scheduled for restricted free agency, but it looks like the team plans to make a one-year tender offer — which usually keeps a player off the market.

MASON A WORKHORSE

As much as the Rams were pleased with Tre Mason’s performance over 12 games as a rookie, Snead thinks something of a committee approach probably works best going forward at running back.

“I think he showed that he can be an explosive, dynamic weapon for us,” Snead said. “And he can get the tough yards, and even make some catches. But I think in the NFL you probably want multiple backs because 16 games is a tough, tough load.”

And keep this in mind: Fisher has selected a running back in each of his three previous drafts with the Rams. Maybe he’ll do it again this year in what appears to be the strongest running back draft class in several years.

Fisher takes road less travel in hiring Weinke as QB coach

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/fisher-takes-road-less-travel-in-hiring-weinke-as-qb/article_dfbd974e-dae3-534e-894c-61455e4f0ab8.html

INDIANAPOLIS • By now, it’s well-established that Jeff Fisher is capable of the unconventional when it comes to coaching staff hires.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Rams’ new quarterbacks coach, Chris Weinke, comes from a pool of candidates with no prior NFL or college coaching experience.

Yes, unsuccessful candidate Jeff Garcia did spend half of last season coaching quarterbacks with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. But that’s it.

Fisher revealed Friday that he also interviewed Steve Walsh, who opened the 1996 season as the Rams’ starting quarterback before giving way to Tony Banks.

“We interviewed three candidates,” Fisher said. “What they have in common – they’re all former players. … Why not get somebody in who’s played the game.

“The respect level from a player’s standpoint for those that have played the game is very high,” Fisher said. “We also had a situation where Chris and Sam (Bradford) got together and they had dinner last week. Sam was very, very excited about the possibility of Chris being our quarterbacks coach.”

Weinke was a Heisman Trophy winner at Florida State. His pro career was less than stellar, but he did spend seven seasons with Carolina and then San Francisco. Garcia was a four-time Pro Bowler over a lengthy career that included very successful stints with the 49ers and Philadelphia.

Walsh, now a high school coach in West Palm Beach, Fla., was a first-round pick by Dallas in the 1989 supplemental draft.

“I was very, very impressed with Jeff as well as I was with Steve,” Fisher said. “I hope that they end up in this league because they’re very, very talented.”

What put Weinke over the top probably was his extensive experience working with quarterbacks at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he was the academy director.

“It was a huge factor,” Fisher said. “What he’s done over the last four, five years, not only with preparing quarterbacks for the draft. But also a lot of guys have gone back – a lot of the (NFL) veterans are going back down there and working with him.”

During his tenure at IMG, Weinke has worked with the likes of Teddy Bridgewater (now with Minnesota), Cam Newton (Carolina), and Russell Wilson (Seattle).

“There’s going to be a time, whether it’s in two months, or three months, whatever, where we’re gonna have a young quarterback,” Fisher said, referring to potential additions to the QB depth chart, where only Bradford is currently under contract. “And I don’t think there’s anybody better qualified to coach a young quarterback than (Weinke).”

Garcia also has been involved in a quarterback training enterprise of his own on the West Coast – Jeff Garcia Football. But he doesn’t have as much experience doing that as Weinke at IMG.

“What Chris did, who he worked with, this list of players that he coached, and also who he worked with during the lockout year (including Newton) – the things he did there were really impressive.”

Another thing in Weinke’s favor was the fact that as a player in his final NFL season, his quarterbacks coach was Frank Cignetti at San Francisco in 2007.

“That had a bearing,” Fisher said. “Cig’s had a relationship with him. So he knew Chris’ study habits, he knew his brain and everything else.”

So the Rams’ new offensive coordinator, Cignetti, knows the new quarterbacks coach. And the new quarterbacks coach, apparently hit it off with Bradford at dinner. All are important considerations, especially considering the Rams’ new stated goal of having the QB coach be more hands-on, and the coordinator be less involved day-to-day with the quarterback.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Fisher said that he and Cignetti mutually agreed that hiring a quarterbacks coach who had played the game was the best way to go.

“I wasn’t going to do anything that your coordinator didn’t agree with,” Fisher said.

Fisher wants an even closer player-to-position coach relationship at quarterback.

“One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the quarterback position itself over the years is very, very difficult to play,” Fisher said. “And the pressure on that position is extraordinary.

“It’s not Sundays. It’s Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And it can become crippling if you don’t approach it that way. Chris understands that.”

Whether it’s Bradford starting, as expected, or somebody else under center, Fisher said he wanted to hire a QB coach that’s the quarterback’s best friend.

“So that he can become close with, and he can get him ready to play,” Fisher said.

Make no mistake, Fisher really liked Garcia – to the point that he joked behind the scenes last week that he might hire two quarterback coaches. Garcia’s energy was off the charts during his 1 ½-day interview at Rams Park.

“It was almost as if he was getting ready to go out and play a game,” Fisher said. “That guy is so competitive … He’s passionate about the game.”

But in the end, Weinke prevailed.

“It’s a great fit,” Fisher said. “He did an outstanding job (at IMG). He’s got a really good thing going there, and this is a leap of faith for him to leave.”