Rams Request Permission To Interview Steelers Cap Guru Omar Khan For GM Job

The St. Louis Rams GM search continues. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the team has requested permission to speak with Omar Khan of the Steelers.

The Steelers do not have to grant permission for the Rams to interview Khan unless he has authority over the roster decisions, on paper anyway. They might not want to let Khan get away with that team facing a tough cap situation this year and an aging roster in need of some work to remain competitive.

Khan is a late entrant to the mix for the GM vacancy. On Tuesday, there was some speculation that the team had identified all of the potential candidates, including George Paton of the Vikings and Les Snead of the Falcons who each interviewed with the team twice. Only Paton interviewed with Fisher twice; Snead was interviewed once before the team hired Fisher.

Bill Cowher is one of Khan's biggest fans, and many expect him to be Cowher's GM if the former Steelers' coach ever decided to come out of retirement.

Khan's title with the Steelers is director of administration. The other candidates the Rams have interviewed for the GM job are personnel men, people currently serving roles directly responsible for identifying and acquiring talent for the roster. Khan's a little different in that he's a cap specialist and a chief negotiator.

COO Kevin Demoff has handled the cap and negotiations for the Rams, and has done quite well. Though cap space is tight this year, the team is looking at $30 million plus in cap space next year. Demoff also helped rearrange tight cap space in 2011 so the team could bring in a bevvy of free agent veterans.

If the Rams do hire Khan - remember they have to get permission first - we should get some clarification on who will handle cap management and negotiation. I suspect Demoff will be less directly involved as he takes on more of a lead executive role in matters such as the Dome lease negotiations.