St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke wrapped up his interview with Jeff Fisher on Thursday in Denver. Even before the two finished, the rumor mill said that Fisher would be choosing between the head coaching jobs in St. Louis or with the Miami Dolphins. On Friday, Adam Schefter confirmed that. Let's take a look at what we know about the situation.
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A complete Jeff Fisher update after the jump.
What Does Fisher Prefer?
As for which team will land the biggest fish in the coaching sea right now, it's anyone's guess. Some seem to think that it will be the Rams, including Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network. Others say he's truly undecided.
One thing to keep in mind is that Miami, through a not so subtle media strategy, made it clear that no team would beat their offer in terms of salary. That's significant because Fisher was poised to make $6.5 million had he coached the Titans in 2011. He got an $8 million buyout instead.
But there's more than money factoring into Fisher's decision, as Mike Freeman at CBS reported. What else is there besides money? Freeman also cited sources who said that Kroenke and the Rams pushed hard on the fact that they have a franchise quarterback in place with Sam Bradford. They may have needed to do a hard sell on that point because Mike Silver of Yahoo reported that Fisher was hardly starstruck by Bradford.
Some have said that the Rams have an advantage because of a clean slate as far as organizational structure goes. Fisher, if he's hired relatively soon, would get some say in picking the new GM. You can imagine that Stan Kroenke also tried to sell him on his desire to win. The Rams also have a very nice cap situation in 2013, with roughly $40 million in room, and the second pick in the draft this year that might be a desired commodity for fetching more picks.
Just How Much Will Fisher Cost?
You can bet that Fisher will be one of the highest paid coaches in the league this year. As mentioned above, he was going to make $6.5 million in Tennessee. Bill Belichick, the highest paid coach in the league, makes $7.5 million a season. Mike Shanahan makes $7 million a year.
The Rams had to pay Steve Spagnuolo's remaining year of salary to get him to go away, which was between $2 and $3 million. They also had to buyout Devaney's final contract year.
Coaching changes aren't cheap.
When Will We Know?
Probably not until next week, early next week.
The Rams have yet to comply with the Rooney Rule. They can't hire Fisher, or any other coach, until they get in line with that. And that should happen over the weekend when they are expected to interview Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton.