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Not saying Jeff Fisher won’t pick the Miami Dolphins in the end, but in this annoying, prolonged, high-stakes poker game, it sure feels like the Fisher King is starting to tip his hand.
I think Fisher and his agent, Marvin Demoff, are trying to leverage the best possible deal from the St. Louis Rams and owner Stan Kroenke (more control, salary escalators, increased pay if team does move back to LA).
Why do I say this?
All the pro-Dolphins leaks are coming out of his camp.
The latest came Wednesday afternoon from Michael Lombardi of NFL.com, who quotes “sources close to Fisher” as indicating not only is the former Oilers/Titans coach close to making his long-awaited decision, but that it “appears he will choose” the Dolphins.
There’s also a reference to Fisher’s fear of going through another franchise relocation and his feeling “more comfortable” with the Dolphins organizational structure.
A couple of thoughts here:
– You don’t keep threatening to choose the Dolphins if you’re trying to squeeze more money/control out of Steve Ross and Co. You’d do the opposite if that were the case. Dolphins have to be at five years, $30 million … at least. And they’ve probably already increased their original bid, at least once.
–Kroenke, who also owns the Nuggets (NBA), Avalanche (NHL) and Arsenal of the English Premier League, reportedly pays Frenchman Arsene Wenger $7 million a year to manage Arsenal. Surely, that number has passed the lips of those masterminding this strange tug of war.
– This idea that Fisher “feels more comfortable with the structure in place” with the Dolphins makes little sense. He’d be inheriting a sitting GM in Miami, albeit one he’s known to some extent since Jeff Ireland’s youth, and unless we’re all missing something, Fisher wouldn’t be handed final say in personnel decisions.
In St. Louis, they’ll pick who Fisher wants as GM, and the team president (Kevin Demoff) is his agent’s son!
Unless Marvin Demoff is a terribly critical father, how could Fisher possibly prefer the front office dynamic in Miami?
–Plus, with St. Louis, Fisher gets his pick of young “franchise” QBs. It’s either Sam Bradford — who appears to be staying — or Robert Griffin III at No. 2. The Dolphins can only promise to do all they can to trade up, which would only blow out their next two drafts, and that’s only if they’re successful in that attempt.
Peyton Manning, Matt Flynn, a run at RGIII … all of them sound good in theory, but none of it can be written in stone the way Bradford/Griffin (or even Luck) can be.
–A franchise relocation would be difficult, especially since Fisher has already suffered through it once after the Oilers left Houston. But if the Rams do move, it almost certainly would be back to LA, and Fisher is a native of Southern California who played at USC.
Your thoughts as we all sit here trying to read the tea leaves?
