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| Jeff Fisher |
"Jeff, seriously man, what the heck is taking so long?"
Two struggling, desperate NFL franchises have, to the best of our knowledge, put on aggressive sales pitches to land the only semi-celebrity coach on the head-coaching market. They have offered money. They have offered power. They have even given him plenty of time to make up his mind. And Fisher has taken great liberties with that time, so much so that it’s starting to make me ask a lot of questions I never would have thought about if he simply had made up his mind two or three days ago.
— If Fisher is taking this long to decide between Miami and the Rams, does that mean that maybe he isn’t all that thrilled with either job?
— If he’s taking this long, does that mean that maybe he’s trying to buy more time to see whether the Indianapolis job opens up?
— Is he taking this long because he can get plenty of money (are the Dolphins willing to pay him $8 million a year?), but not enough power from the Dolphins (with "consultant" Carl Peterson and GM Jeff Ireland already there) or because he can get plenty of power, but not enough money from the Rams (reportedly they aren’t interested in paying him $6 million or more) and can’t make up his mind which is more important?
But starting to worry me more than all of that is this: Maybe, just maybe, all this agonizing deliberation has caused Rams owner Stan Kroenke to contemplate whether it’s worth it to be held hostage by Fisher. The longer Fisher puts the Rams on hold, the more potential Plan B candidates get the chance to sit in front of the Rams owner and impress him. The longer Fisher puts Kroenke on hold, there’s more of a risk that Kroenke might develop second thoughts about whether Fisher is worth the wait and the investment, or that Kroenke will test the emotional pulse of his consumers to see how they’d feel about him moving on to Plan B.
Look, I already know that’s what a lot of emotional fans are thinking now.
Popular opinion is slowly turning on Fisher in both Miami and St. Louis, as it appears to some fans that he’s either on an insatiable money or power grab.
Well, before that tide turns too far, let me be the voice of sanity.
Stop it. Stop it now.
Forty eight hours hasn’t caused me to lose my mind just yet. If Fisher is taking a little longer than expected to make up his mind, then consider it a gift. The Rams need him more than he needs the Rams. That is the bottom line in all of this.
So, as Kroenke deliberates over what else he can do to close this deal and get Fisher under contract, I just hope there isn’t going to be a lot of quibbling over money.
NFL sources maintain that it isn’t about money or power. But let’s pretend it is. Coaches with Fisher’s experience and success rate are commanding salaries well north of $6 million now, and I doubt that Ross will blink at that figure.
So, why should Kroenke?
All he needs to do is ask himself some very simple questions:
What’s a proven NFL head coach worth to a moribund franchise?
— What is the value of a coach who is a known, successful commodity, who has taken his team to the Super Bowl, wins consistently and builds teams that are big, fast, strong, talented and intimidating to a franchise that a long history of neither winning nor producing Pro Bowl caliber players?
I’m not going to be one of these folks who grumble about Fisher being too greedy, because there are very few times when a person in any walk of life has this kind of positively sick leverage. When you have this rare clout, you darned well better use it for all it’s worth. Fisher finds himself in the once-in-a-lifetime circumstance of being the grand prize in an economic tug-of-war between Miami owner Stephen Ross and Rams owner Kroenke, two billionaire businessmen who like to get their way at the negotiating table.
The Rams seem to be more than willing to give Fisher all the power he wants or needs. But if money is an issue, it’s kind of baffling to me. If you’re willing to pay an unproven rookie quarterback with a tremendous upside $18.4 million (what Sam Bradford earned in base salary and bonuses in 2011), why would you hesitate to give a head coach with Fisher’s track record less than half that?
If owners will pay a veteran receiver with a few Pro Bowls under his belt $7 million or $8 million, or defensive linemen $14- to $15 million a year, why would you have reservations about a man who would be in charge of the entire football operation?
Haven’t we seen enough evidence here in St. Louis to understand what a truly good, proven head coach is worth?
Since Mike Martz was fired in the middle of 2005, the Rams have gone through two other head coaches and two interim ones. And what do they have to show for it? A 27-80 record, zero playoff appearances and a franchise that has descended into perennial irrelevance and taken up near-permanent residence in the top five of the NFL draft.
If the Rams get too impatient and move on from Fisher, waiting for them in the queue are a bunch of guys from the head-coaching starter kit. And based on what we’ve seen over the past six seasons, can the Rams afford to try that route again?
Let me remind you once again what has happened since Martz left:
Twenty seven victories, 80 defeats. No playoffs.
Go get Jeff Fisher.
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