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Foles pep rally turns into inquisition on Bradford trade
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_df15e699-eb6e-51a0-aa72-2a08d001c31f.html
Friday’s introductory news conference for quarterback Nick Foles had all the trappings of a pep rally. A table with three chairs and microphones was set up at the front of the team auditorium at Rams Park.
Employees from throughout the building, including some members of the coaching staff, took a break from the day’s duties to take in the scene.
Then coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead came out and sat down at each end of the table, leaving an open chair in the middle for Foles.
“You all know why we’re here,” Fisher began. “This is a special day. You get an opportunity to meet Nick. So let’s bring Nick in.”
And out strolled ... defensive tackle Nick Fairley, looking dapper in suit and tie. The assembled employees laughed and applauded. Fairley came out, smiled, and stood between Fisher and Snead for a few seconds.
“How you all doing?” said Fairley, the free agent from Detroit.
Fairley then went upstairs to sign his Rams contract, and then out strolled Foles to more applause. The former Philadelphia quarterback was acquired Tuesday for Sam Bradford, in a trade that also included exchanges of draft picks by both teams.
Foles, who was asked only four questions, said the usual things about being happy to be with his new team.
“It’s a great opportunity to be with a great team,” Foles said. “I’ve been able to meet with some of the players and get to know ’em a little bit. It’s an honor to be here. It’s definitely a new start.”
Foles, who missed half of last season with a collarbone injury, said: “I’m 180 percent right now. I’m better than I was (before). ... I’m excited to be healthy, and I’m excited to throw it.”
But the most interesting part of a news conference, which lasted only 10 minutes, was Fisher and Snead fumbling around questions about why Bradford was traded. The same Sam Bradford they had praised effusively for two months before the trade.
At the NFL Scouting Combine in late February, Fisher had called trade rumors involving Bradford “inaccurate.” He said the Rams were counting on Bradford in 2015, even that he was gambling on him in 2015.
A week earlier, Fisher said he wouldn’t have named Frank Cignetti the team’s new offensive coordinator had Bradford not given his OK after a long meeting with Bradford.
Two days before Fisher spoke at the combine, Snead had addressed the media in Indianapolis, and in response to a question about rumors, said emphatically that the Rams weren’t shopping Bradford, adding on more than one occasion that “deleting” Bradford from the roster was not a solution.
So what changed? Snead’s answer to that was confusing.
“We went to the combine, and we had never heard anything about a trade. Nobody had mentioned wanting to trade for Sam Bradford,” Snead said. “Deleting him wasn’t gonna be the solution or the problem.
“Obviously, when news like that breaks — guess what? — some other teams start dabbling.
“I think the first team approached me at the combine at some point, even in the elevator. Long story short, at the end of the day, probably after we got back from the combine — probably a week or so after — a lot of teams started checking in (on trading for Bradford).
“They’re trying to figure out if we really want to ... get rid of Sam or not. They figured out that we really didn’t.”
But they did.
The fact that the Rams spent so much of the offseason praising Bradford, and then traded him, was confusing to many — including some Rams players, who, according to sources, didn’t like the way the way the trade was handled in terms of fairness to Bradford.
Credibility and trust are important in the player-coach relationship, and some players may be wondering the next time Fisher or Snead lavishes praise on a player: “Does he really mean it?”
The departure of Bradford may simply have been a case of the Rams wanting Bradford to take a pay cut, and the Bradford camp saying “no thanks.” And it wasn’t just a trim, but a sizeable pay cut, thought to be well more than half of Bradford’s base salary of $13 million in 2015.
But when asked Friday if Bradford would still be around had he accepted the pay cut, Fisher replied: “Probably not.”
So maybe the Rams wanted Foles all along. Maybe the low-ball offer on the Bradford pay cut helped make that happen. Rams executive vice president for football operations Kevin Demoff certainly wasn’t very happy at the combine about Bradford’s refusal to take a reduction.
But once the trade rumors started in earnest around the combine, Bradford agent Tom Condon wasn’t going to give money back AND see his client traded. Bradford genuinely wanted to stay in St. Louis, so why take a pay cut and make it easier to get traded?
“The reason that we made our trade the other day — the right fit — was the addition of Nick Foles,” Snead said. “Because our conundrum at quarterback was gonna require an addition.
“You’ve got a young guy (Foles) who’s got a lot of physical skills to play in this league. He’s got a lot of metrics that show how he can produce on the field. But the best thing about Nick is this — he’s won games. From a good organization. Good team. ... That’s what made the addition intriguing and why the thing went down.
“So when we said deleting Sam wasn’t the answer; when Coach Fisher said (Bradford) was his QB — that was true. Because at that moment there was no trade. There was definitely no one like Nick coming in the building.”
Meaning Nick Foles. Not Nick Fairley.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_df15e699-eb6e-51a0-aa72-2a08d001c31f.html
Friday’s introductory news conference for quarterback Nick Foles had all the trappings of a pep rally. A table with three chairs and microphones was set up at the front of the team auditorium at Rams Park.
Employees from throughout the building, including some members of the coaching staff, took a break from the day’s duties to take in the scene.
Then coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead came out and sat down at each end of the table, leaving an open chair in the middle for Foles.
“You all know why we’re here,” Fisher began. “This is a special day. You get an opportunity to meet Nick. So let’s bring Nick in.”
And out strolled ... defensive tackle Nick Fairley, looking dapper in suit and tie. The assembled employees laughed and applauded. Fairley came out, smiled, and stood between Fisher and Snead for a few seconds.
“How you all doing?” said Fairley, the free agent from Detroit.
Fairley then went upstairs to sign his Rams contract, and then out strolled Foles to more applause. The former Philadelphia quarterback was acquired Tuesday for Sam Bradford, in a trade that also included exchanges of draft picks by both teams.
Foles, who was asked only four questions, said the usual things about being happy to be with his new team.
“It’s a great opportunity to be with a great team,” Foles said. “I’ve been able to meet with some of the players and get to know ’em a little bit. It’s an honor to be here. It’s definitely a new start.”
Foles, who missed half of last season with a collarbone injury, said: “I’m 180 percent right now. I’m better than I was (before). ... I’m excited to be healthy, and I’m excited to throw it.”
But the most interesting part of a news conference, which lasted only 10 minutes, was Fisher and Snead fumbling around questions about why Bradford was traded. The same Sam Bradford they had praised effusively for two months before the trade.
At the NFL Scouting Combine in late February, Fisher had called trade rumors involving Bradford “inaccurate.” He said the Rams were counting on Bradford in 2015, even that he was gambling on him in 2015.
A week earlier, Fisher said he wouldn’t have named Frank Cignetti the team’s new offensive coordinator had Bradford not given his OK after a long meeting with Bradford.
Two days before Fisher spoke at the combine, Snead had addressed the media in Indianapolis, and in response to a question about rumors, said emphatically that the Rams weren’t shopping Bradford, adding on more than one occasion that “deleting” Bradford from the roster was not a solution.
So what changed? Snead’s answer to that was confusing.
“We went to the combine, and we had never heard anything about a trade. Nobody had mentioned wanting to trade for Sam Bradford,” Snead said. “Deleting him wasn’t gonna be the solution or the problem.
“Obviously, when news like that breaks — guess what? — some other teams start dabbling.
“I think the first team approached me at the combine at some point, even in the elevator. Long story short, at the end of the day, probably after we got back from the combine — probably a week or so after — a lot of teams started checking in (on trading for Bradford).
“They’re trying to figure out if we really want to ... get rid of Sam or not. They figured out that we really didn’t.”
But they did.
The fact that the Rams spent so much of the offseason praising Bradford, and then traded him, was confusing to many — including some Rams players, who, according to sources, didn’t like the way the way the trade was handled in terms of fairness to Bradford.
Credibility and trust are important in the player-coach relationship, and some players may be wondering the next time Fisher or Snead lavishes praise on a player: “Does he really mean it?”
The departure of Bradford may simply have been a case of the Rams wanting Bradford to take a pay cut, and the Bradford camp saying “no thanks.” And it wasn’t just a trim, but a sizeable pay cut, thought to be well more than half of Bradford’s base salary of $13 million in 2015.
But when asked Friday if Bradford would still be around had he accepted the pay cut, Fisher replied: “Probably not.”
So maybe the Rams wanted Foles all along. Maybe the low-ball offer on the Bradford pay cut helped make that happen. Rams executive vice president for football operations Kevin Demoff certainly wasn’t very happy at the combine about Bradford’s refusal to take a reduction.
But once the trade rumors started in earnest around the combine, Bradford agent Tom Condon wasn’t going to give money back AND see his client traded. Bradford genuinely wanted to stay in St. Louis, so why take a pay cut and make it easier to get traded?
“The reason that we made our trade the other day — the right fit — was the addition of Nick Foles,” Snead said. “Because our conundrum at quarterback was gonna require an addition.
“You’ve got a young guy (Foles) who’s got a lot of physical skills to play in this league. He’s got a lot of metrics that show how he can produce on the field. But the best thing about Nick is this — he’s won games. From a good organization. Good team. ... That’s what made the addition intriguing and why the thing went down.
“So when we said deleting Sam wasn’t the answer; when Coach Fisher said (Bradford) was his QB — that was true. Because at that moment there was no trade. There was definitely no one like Nick coming in the building.”
Meaning Nick Foles. Not Nick Fairley.
