Jeff Fisher

Back in 2005, the Jeff Fisher-led Tennessee Titans used the sixth overall pick on Adam "Pacman" Jones. Jones' off-field issues had been well documented prior to the draft. When he was drafted, Jones was actually on probation due to his involvement in a fight in West Virginia.

Despite the warning signs, Fisher and Tennessee pulled the trigger on drafting the talented but troubled cornerback. 

Jones repaid that leap of faith by being arrested a short three months after being drafted on charges of assault and felony vandalism.

That arrest was just the first of many incidents—including Pacman's involvement in a strip-club shooting in Las Vegas which led to a one-year suspension from the NFL—that the Titans dealt with before finally cutting ties with Jones on April 23, 2008 when they traded him to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick.

One would tend to believe that Fisher learned a lesson that day.

Fast-forward to yesterday, April 27, 2012, and Fisher's new team, the St. Louis Rams, taking Janoris Jenkins. 

Jenkins: arrested and tased by police in a bar fight in 2009, two marijuana citations in 2011, and getting kicked off the Florida football team. (Not to mention four kids at the age of 23. I myself am 38 and have all that I can handle with three...)

These are the major character bullet points of the St. Louis Rams' second-round selection. 

Obviously, Jeff Fisher thinks he can handle it. And that's great. But Fisher's "handling" of Jones went about as terribly as it could have. It's hard to see what steps Fisher took then that could be considered even minor successes that should give Rams fans even the tiniest bit of hope that their head coach will be able to reign in this problem project. 

They say that those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat their mistakes, and that certainly seems to be the path Jeff Fisher is determined to go down. 

Thank you for joining me for my weekly "Saturday St. Louis Sound-Off" piece. Today, we will touch on a few St. Louis Rams-related topics that I have not hit on, at least not in depth, during the past week. 

What Will the Rams Counteroffer Look Like? 

In just a little over two weeks, the St. Louis Rams will present their counteroffer to the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission in relation to what they want upgraded and renovated at the Edward Jones Dome, the Rams home venue since the move to the Gateway City in 1995. 

As most of you know, the St. Louis CVC presented their initial proposal to upgrade the EJD on February 1. Nobody expected that proposal to be accepted, as even Kathleen "Kitty" Ratcliffe admitted.  

On March 1, the Rams did indeed reject the initial CVC proposal, a proposal that would have totaled approximately $124 million dollars in costs, with the Rams paying 52 percent of the total bill. 

If that proposal would have been accepted, St. Louis would have been on the hook for $60 million in improvements.  

On May 1, the Rams will present their counteroffer. It will be extremely interesting to find out what they indeed liked from the CVC proposal and what exactly the Rams want to see the EJD become.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the plan will be to see what the Rams counteroffer comes to in regard to monetary figures. 

If the total is anywhere close to the CVC proposal in terms of costs to upgrade the EJD, perhaps something gets done in early June. If not, the Rams and CVC will head to arbitration (which could last until the end of 2012).

By all accounts, the Rams and CVC have a terrific working relationship.

Whether a deal gets done by June or sometime down the road, I do expect an eventual long-term stay for the Rams in St. Louis.

Who is Your Favorite St. Louis Rams Player? 

In a subsequent article found here, Rams Nation is being asked who their favorite current St. Louis football player is.  

The list of options is as lengthy as possible. However, as you could imagine, the poll will not allow every player to be listed.

Please click the above-linked article and vote. It should be very interesting to see the results.  

Please be on the lookout for another in a series of Rams Nation Fan Polls coming to Bleacher Report tomorrow.

Rams Have Chance to Become Consistent NFL Contenders Over the Next Few Years

I continue to insist that 2012 will be the year that Rams fans everywhere look back as the turning point for this organization. 

It all started with the addition of proven head coach Jeff Fisher. 

It continued with the attainment several premium draft picks, including a first-round pick in 2013 and 2014 via the pre-draft trade for the Rams' former No. 2 pick. 

St. Louis has also added some young, terrific talent through the NFL free-agency period, like Cortland Finnegan and Kendall Langford.

I believe that the aforementioned lease negotiations will also lead to a much-improved EJD as well as an eventual new stadium somewhere in the St. Louis metro by 2025.

All in all, I believe that this year will be one that is looked back at down the road that sees St. Louis as turning the corner and becoming a consistent force in the NFL.

And that all started with the hire of Jeff Fisher. All of the extra draft picks will enable the Rams to attain a large quantity of premier talent between now and the conclusion of the 2014 NFL Draft. 

With some great foundational pieces in place (Chris Long, James Laurinaitis, Robert Quinn, Danny Amendola, Sam Bradford, Rodger Saffold, Jerome Murphy, Bradley Fletcher, Kendall Langford, Cortland Finnegan and others), the Rams appear to have a bright future, with much of that future kicking off in earnest here in 2012. 

Follow @ShaneGmoSTLRams

Shane Gray covers the St. Louis Rams daily as a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You are encouraged to check out the rest of his work here. Gray also owns and operates stlramscentral.com. 

Entering his third year as quarterback of the St Louis. Rams, former first-overall pick Sam Bradford will be working with his third different offensive coordinator. This is not exactly a recipe for success at the game's most important position. 

After a disappointing 2011 season, there were rumblings of the Rams possibly trading Bradford to the Cleveland Browns, where he could be reunited with Pat Shurmur, who was Bradford's offensive coordinator during his much more successful rookie campaign. 

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher wisely closed the door on that discussion during the scouting combine.

Earlier today, speaking on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, Fisher continued to put his full support behind his quarterback (via PFT):

There’s no doubt. There’s a number of friends of mine in the league that know the league, and I had one of them tell me during the process that they thought Sam may be one of the better quarterbacks — or the best quarterback — in the league, he just hasn’t had a chance to prove it yet. That weighed very heavily in my opinion. Very, very impressive player. I think he has a tremendous upside.

While predicting greatness for Bradford is mostly the usual new-coach hyperbole that we get early in almost any offseason, Fisher is 100 percent correct when he intimates that Bradford hasn't been given much of a chance to reach the potential the team saw in him when they made him the first overall pick in the draft two years ago. 

The NFL in general is far too quick to pull the plug on quarterbacks, and pulling the plug on Bradford would have been a mistake.

Fisher and company were wise to stick with Bradford and to try to build around his mostly as-of-yet untapped talent. 

Sam Bradford bawls.

The St. Louis Rams desperately need to enhance their quarterback’s arsenal of weapons.  But history suggests that they’ll spurn Sam to fill another hole—if you can call it that.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot reported Trent Richardson’s link to the Rams as she tweeted:

#Alabama RB Trent Richardson said after his Pro Day workout he has private workouts set up with the #Browns, #Rams and #Bucs, among others.

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) March 29, 2012

St. Louis fans, join Bradford.

The selection is inevitable.  Jeff Fisher prioritizes the running game.  If there’s the slightest room for improvement at the halfback position, he'll upgrade in a heartbeat.

Right now, St. Louis’ receiving corps features Steve Smith, Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson and Danario Alexander.  For any other coach, those names wouldn’t satisfy.  Fisher has different standards, though.

This is a guy that forced Kerry Collins and Vince Young to throw to the likes of Drew Bennett, Bobby Wade, Justin Gage, Justin McCareins, Roydell Williams and Brandon Jones for years.  While the Tennessee Titans sent those scrubs out on to the field, they continued to heavily pursue running backs.

Tennessee spent first- or second-round picks on LenDale White, Chris Henry and Chris Johnson over the past half-dozen drafts.  Over that time span, Kenny Britt is the only highly-sought after wideout that they bothered to nab.

Justin Blackmon is the perfect pick for the Rams.  Such a selection would finally provide Bradford with the No. 1 receiver that’s he has been starving for.  But Collins and Young were hungry too—Fisher failed to feed them.

The newly hired head coach will look at the 28-year old Steven Jackson and see an aging ball carrier.  Fisher will then shift his eyes to Richardson.  In the former Alabama back, he’ll see the next Adrian Peterson.

In Fisher’s ball-control offensive attack, it’d be useful to have the next AP.  And with Brian Schottenheimer calling the plays, there’s no reason to expect any sway from Fish’s past style. 

Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets for six seasons.  During that time, New York was a run-heavy ball club.  They finished top 10 in the league in rushing three times including a first-place finish.

This April, priorities will outweigh need for the Rams.

If Richardson falls past the Cleveland Browns, Fisher won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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There are more headlines coming out of the owners' meetings to pass on, this time centering on the Cleveland Browns. 

First, Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter, Mary Kay Cabot, brings us some very interesting comments from St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher about the earlier talks with the Browns and the continuing potential for a trade. According to Cabot, Fisher called the failed talks with the Browns "fruitful" and reiterated that the Browns were a "potential trade partner." Fisher went into detail about the possibility of trading up to the Browns No. 4 pick:

"I don't know if we'd consider going that high. Those conversations aren't going to take place until draft day because your guy's got to be there. It'll be interesting to see what kind of compensation they want. We're very happy with the compensation we've got right now over the next couple of years.''

Who would be the "Rams guy"? Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon is a possibility, and Fisher did say that he could see another team trading up for Blackmon. Perhaps he would want to beat them to the punch. He also called the possibility of the Rams moving up or down "very realistic," so this could mainly be gamesmanship to keep all avenues open for movement within the first round of the draft. It's still a bit of a surprise to hear Fisher mention the Browns so prominently as a trade partner after Holmgren seemed peeved about Fisher and the Rams choosing to trade the No. 2 to Washington instead of Cleveland, implying that Fisher's relationship with Redskins coach Mike Shanahan was the deciding factor. Cleveland GM Tom Heckert's comments earlier this week that the Browns "going to get a really good player at number four, but (they) could still get a really good player at five, six, seven, eight too" only fuel the speculation that the Rams and Browns could be dance partners in the 2012 draft after all.

Fisher also mentioned that teams had inquired about QB Sam Bradford, even though there "no consideration" on the Rams part to trade him. He wouldn't say whether the Browns were one of those teams, but Tony Grossi from ESPN Cleveland has sources who say the Browns did ask. No matter how many times Heckert says the Browns "are fine" with Colt McCoy at QB, their previous actions suggest otherwise. Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden and Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill remain strong consideration for the team in the first or second round.

Welcome to Wednesday's St. Louis Rams "News and Notes at Noon," the one-stop spot for all major daily Rams headlines and other related information of interest. 

Magic Johnson Beats Out Stan Kroenke and Steve Kohen to Purchase the L.A. Dodgers

According to various reports including this one from ESPN, a group led by Magic Johnson will purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

As most of you know, Rams owner Stan Kroenke was bidding for the Dodgers. 

"Silent" Stan conducted a rare interview posted today by Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and touched on various topics in the piece that can be read here. 

Could Rams Still Trade With the Cleveland Browns in the 2012 NFL Draft? 

According to an article by Mary Kay Cabot for Cleveland.com, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher says that the Browns are "a potential trade partner" at No. 4 for the Rams No. 6 selection.

This time of year, however, everything should be taken with a grain (or two) of salt.  Smokescreens are in abundance before the NFL Draft and this year will be no different. 

In my opinion, it is highly doubtful that St. Louis moves back up after attaining extra picks to move down in the trade with the Washington Redskins and the No. 2 overall pick and the expected selection of Robert Griffin III. 

St. Louis has a plethora of roster holes, and giving up picks to move up two spots seems very unlikely with that also taken into consideration.

Looking at Cornerback Prospects in the 2012 NFL Draft 

There are several terrific corner prospects available this year, including Morris Claiborne, Dre Kirkpatrick, Steven Gilmore and others. 

In this clip, Tony Softli and Howard Balzer of 101Sports.com discuss this topic.  

Even though the Rams added prized free-agent Cortland Finnegan to solidify the defensive backfield, St. Louis could use additional help there, especially during this pass-happy era that the NFL is currently in. 

Thanks, as always, for checking in.  Have a great day, STL Rams Nation. 

Shane Gray covers the St. Louis Rams year-round. You are encouraged to check out the rest of his work here and to follow him on Twitter.

Jeff Fisher stated yesterday that the St. Louis Rams will not name a defensive coordinator in 2012 following the Bountygate related suspension of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, as reported by Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

I'm not going to name a defensive coordinator. Most likely it will be a collective effort. But we have a lot of things we have to sort out as you can imagine.

In response to the Williams suspension and the obvious implications for the Rams, Fisher took the stage at Rams Park in Earth City.   In addition to his statement above, Fisher also expressed confidence in his remaining defensive staff members and their collective ability to install and oversee the defense in Williams' absence: 

You know, we've got three former (defensive) coordinators in the building.  I met with the staff today. Informed the staff when we got the news and told them that we will make the appropriate adjustments and we'll move on.

We've got very talented coaches on this staff and we'll get the job done.  I've got confidence in them, I've worked with them.  I know what they're about.  

This is a defense that's very intellectually challenging.  We'll get the playbook and the scheme across to the players, and they'll be successful in it.  

I'll remind you that the playbook that Gregg has, originated in my office. So I have a pretty good feel for the defense.  At this point, I'm not at liberty to say who's going to make the calls and the decisions, but it'll get done. It'll get done effectively.

It is hard to imagine that Williams would be back with St. Louis in 2013, even if his "indefinite" suspension is lifted after the upcoming season. 

Whether one agrees with the suspensions or not is really a moot point in regard to Wiliams' future here (or anywhere in the NFL.)  

As it stands now, the public relations hit and microscopic scrutiny that a franchise placing Williams on the sidelines would almost certainly be severe. 

In regard to any potential future for Williams as DC of the Rams in 2013 or beyond, Fisher was noncommittal (as reported in the aforementioned above-linked piece from Thomas): 

You know, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Unless things change dramatically between now and bridge crossing time, it is tough to imagine a scenario where Williams marches across the proverbial bridge with the Rams going forward (if and when he is eventually reinstated by the league.) 

If there is a positive aspect at all for the Rams today perhaps it is this: at least this did not come to light during the preseason or during the regular season.  

With Bountygate surfacing early in the offseason and the punishments being made known now, St. Louis has time to recover and implement a solid plan.

Had this all come to light in Week 2 of the preseason or Week 10 of the regular season, the direct impacts on the Rams would have likely been more profound and this issue even more of a distraction than it is now. 

Moving beyond this, I am confident that Fisher and the remaining members of his veteran-laden coaching staff will unite and perform admirably minus Williams.  

Look for St. Louis assistant head coach Dave McGinnis, a former DC and head coach himself, to play a pivotal role in the implementation and execution of the St. Louis defense in the coming campaign.

Shane Gray covers the St. Louis Rams year-round. You are encouraged to check out the rest of his work here and to follow him on Twitter.

New St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has received an indefinite suspension for his part in the notorious "bounty" scandal, as indicated on NFL.com.

The news leaves the Rams without a defensive play-caller as they look to rebound from 2011's 2-14 disaster. Jeff Fisher hired Williams for his blitzing style and the Rams will need to find a new coordinator versed in an aggressive scheme.

They have players like Robert Quinn, Chris Long and James Laurinaitus, whose strength is attacking the line of scrimmage. Here are the four best candidates to replace Williams and get the most from this defensive talent:

John Marshall

Marshall is a veteran defensive schemer, not afraid to attack with multiple blitz pressures. In 2010, his Oakland Raiders defense ranked second in the league with 47 sacks.

Marshall routinely sent several defenders on the blitz, allowing the likes of Tyvon Branch and Kamerion Wimbley to make plenty of big plays. He also has reputation for building strong defensive lines, something which should appeal to the Rams given the young talent along their front.

Mike Trgovac

Trgovac currently serves as the defensive line coach for the Green Bay Packers. His time working in the Packers' blitz-happy scheme will translate well to the kind of defense Fisher is expected to utilise with the Rams.

Trgovac served as the coordinator for the Carolina Panthers from 2002-2008 and has plenty of 4-3 experience. Throughout his career he has worked with linemen including Kris Jenkins, Julius Peppers and William Fuller.

Eric Mangini

Mangini is one of the coaches you always feel should remain at the coordinator level. He is an aggressive play-caller and certainly is not afraid to bring pressure from all over the field.

Mangini is particularly fond of blitzing his secondary players. He may have coached a 3-4 throughout his career, but his defenses with the Cleveland Browns incorporated some elements of the "46" that Fisher is very familiar with.

Larry Coyer

Coyer became an unfair early casualty of the Indianapolis Colts' disastrous season. However, he is a veteran coordinator whose experience could be useful at this time.

Coyer's defense crumbled around him in 2011, but the fault was not his alone. He was bitterly criticised for his reliance on Cover-2 concepts.

Yet that is what the Colts defense was built to play. His secondary was ravaged by injuries and the unit received no help from an abject offense.

Prior to last season's fall, Coyer had done a respectable job with the Colts defense and had in fact succeeded in varying the playbook.

He is often wrongly thought of as a conservative coach, but Coyer is not shy about bringing pressure. His Denver Broncos defense blitzed Tom Brady and the New England into oblivion in the 2005-06 AFC Divisional Playoff.

Coyer would no doubt be anxious to prove that 2011 was not a true reflection of his expertise.

The Rams may be reeling from losing Williams, whose initial hiring was considered something of a coup. However, the team still has Fisher's defensive acumen to rely on.

The addition of a veteran play-caller with coordinator experience will more than compensate.

Mike Wallace had a phenomenal season racking up almost 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns over 72 receptions. He is the type of wide receiver that can get behind defenses and gain extra yards after the catch with his breakaway speed and agility.

Mike Wallace is a very gifted receiver and can easily make any wide receiving corps much better.

The St. Louis Rams have a serious need at wide receiver. After the recent departure of Brandon Lloyd to the New England Patriots, the Rams are left without a No. 1 receiver.

My solution is that the Rams should trade their sixth overall pick (acquired from the Washington Redskins) for Mike Wallace and the Pittsburgh Steelers 24th overall selection.

Does this trade make sense? Yes, let’s analyze both teams.

St. Louis Rams

The Rams would upgrade their arguably biggest need by trading for Mike Wallace and would still be able to select in the first round later in the draft.

One could argue that the Rams could use their selection on Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma State.

Yes, Blackmon is an intriguing prospect, but if the Rams executed this trade with the Steelers they would not only resolve their need for a No. 1 receiver, but could also resolve their need for a No. 2 receiver by drafting Alshon Jeffery or Stephen Hill with the 24th selection.

Additionally, Blackmon may not even be available by the time the Rams select at sixth overall. The Cleveland Browns are in desperate need for playmakers. They may draft Ryan Tannehill at fourth overall, but they could just as easily use this selection on Blackmon.

Also, the Rams missed out signing any key wide receiver free agents this offseason. There were rumors that they were in discussions with Mario Manningham, but he signed with the San Francisco 49ers instead of the Rams.

Lastly, with the 24th selection, the Rams could even use it to improve the interior of their offensive line with someone like Cordy Glenn from Georgia or Kelechi Osemele from Iowa State. This would help Jeff Fisher and Stan Kroenke protect their $86 million investment from further punishment.

Pittsburgh Steelers

 First of all, the Pittsburgh Steelers tendered Mike Wallace for a first-round selection.

The Rams' sixth overall pick is worth 1,600 points on the NFL Draft Value Chart. The Steelers’ 24th overall pick is worth 740 points. The difference between these two picks is 860 points. 860 points is roughly the 19th or 20th pick in the first round, so this would count as a mid-first round selection.

Secondly, the Steelers need to clear up cap space. This would help remedy this issue, while getting enough value to make the trade worthwhile for them.

If the Steelers executed this trade, they could draft help on their offensive line by drafting an offensive tackle like Riley Reiff or drafting a much needed nose tackle like Dontari Poe who shot up draft boards after his fantastic combine by running a 40-yard dash of 4.87 seconds and benching 225 lbs 44 times.

This trade makes sense for both teams, whether it will ever happen is a topic for another discussion.

Let me know what you think, and I thank you in advance for your comments.