Jeff Fisher is the man of the hour, the scoop du jour as the name that keeps getting tossed around the rumor mill as a potential candidate to be the next head coach of the St. Louis Rams, and several other teams with a coaching vacancy. The latest Fisher-to-the-Rams talk comes from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune, who seems to have become something of an expert on matters related to St. Louis. Acee reports that the Rams are "all but certain" to hire Jeff Fisher.
Kevin Demoff, the Rams Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Football Operations, denied reports that Fisher was already being courted by the Rams in a Monday afternoon press conference. According to the Post-Dispatch, Monday was the first day that Fisher knew that the Rams were interested in his services. As of Demoff's Monday afternoon press conference, the Rams had not contacted any potential coach or GM candidate.
Asked specifically about the report from Peter King that the Rams had an interview with Fisher, Demoff responded, "I can tell you that's 100% false."
Unsurprisingly, Demoff did not deny that the Rams would consider Fisher. He acknowledged talking to Marvin Demoff, Fisher's agent and Kevin's father, on Monday about Fisher.
"He and I spoke today about the process for talking to Jeff, and what Jeff is looking for and what Jeff is interested in. I think that will move quickly," Demoff said. "Obviously, I think like everybody else who's going through a search, he's someone who's a potentially attractive candidate."
The specifics of the rumors aside, chatter about the Rams and Fisher continues to snowball. Jim Thomas reported in today's paper that the Rams are expected to talk with Fisher by the end of the week, and that certainly doesn't run counter to what Demoff said yesterday.
Despite the report in the San Diego press, there's more than a few steps to go between now and the Rams hiring Jeff Fisher. For one, they'll have to interview other candidates, including interviews to satisfy the league policy known as the "Rooney Rule," which requires teams to interview minority candidates when making new hires.
It's not a leap to assume that the Rams will interview Fisher. Once the interviews start getting lined up, the picture of who will be the teams' next head coach should start to get much clearer.
Naturally the Rams will have competition for Fisher. It's been reported that he'll interview with the Dolphins.
Fisher is reportedly looking for a landing spot with an established quarterback. That makes the possibility of landing in Miami seem like a stretch, if true. It also sounds as though, based on the same piece from Acee in San Diego, the Chargers could keep both Norv Turner and A.J. Smith, removing one potential landing spot for Fisher, and killing another Rams-related rumor in the process.