clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Jeff Fisher talks Jake Long, Rodger Saffold

The Rams head coach was excited about the future of the team's offensive line.

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Contrary to what it might look like, Jake Long has not been in the St. Louis Rams' plans for very long. In fact, head coach Jeff Fisher described a process to SiriusXM on Tuesday that sounded more serendipitous than Long's never-ending visit to St. Louis would have you believe.

"We really didn't go into free agency with that expectation," Fisher admitted on Tuesday. "We got in touch with him [Long] and things started to fall into place. We had a great visit. It took some time because of the dynamics of free agency. We were really excited to put this together."

Long received a rather extensive checkup from the medical team at Rams Park too.

"Initially, what we wanted to do is have him come in and do the physical," Fisher explained. "Poor guy, we MRI'd like six different body parts over 45 minutes, a giant man in that tube. He checked out well."

Planned or not, Long is a natural fit for what the Rams needed in order to improve the offense this year.

"Basically, what it does is help our football team," Fisher said. "It helps our quarterback and helps us do the things we need to do to protect the quarterback and run the football."

As for the fallout around Rodger Saffold, the coach assured listeners about that, praising Saffold's work and leaving the door open for a position switch to the right side or elsewhere.

"Rodger really played well," Fisher said. "You know what coaches do, they get away, then they come back and look at the cutups. He played well for us. We've got a good player in Rodger. If Jake's more comfortable on the left side, Rodger can go anywhere and play. Rodger's going to be a really good football player for us."

Be sure to check out the full interview. Fisher, a member of the competition committee, also talks about the rule changes proposed this week.