Rams discussing extensions with Jeff Fisher, coaching staff
By Nick Wagoner
ESPN Staff Writer
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14872177/los-angeles-rams-jeff-fisher-discussing-extension
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher is unlikely to return to his native Southern California with only one year left on his contract.
The Rams and Fisher are discussing a contract extension, league sources told ESPN, as the 2016 season is the final year of his current deal. Members of Fisher's coaching staff are also in talks about possible extensions. The deals are not yet finalized but the expectation is that they will get done.
Fisher took over as Rams coach in 2012, signing a five-year deal worth about $35 million after a year away from football. He has since led the team to a 27-36-1 record and no postseason appearances in four seasons.
The Rams went 7-9 in 2015 but made it clear late in the year that Fisher would at least get the chance to guide the team through the move back to Los Angeles and finish his initial contract with the team.
Fisher, a Culver City, California native, has previous experience leading the Houston Oilers through a move to Tennessee in 1997. In taking the Rams back to Los Angeles, Fisher will return to the site of most of his amateur playing days.
Fisher was a wide receiver at Taft High in Woodland Hills, California, and played defensive back at the University of Southern California.
"When things were kind of coming down and [chief operating officer] Kevin [Demoff] called and said, 'Do you want to be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Rams?' and I said yes I do," Fisher said at the scouting combine last week.
"So it's exciting. I mentioned this; having grown up there, my dad in 1967 took me to the Rams-Eagles game, so I have been a Rams fan since I was a kid. We all grow up as fans as kids. So all those players, the lineup -- one of the things that's been interesting for us that we've done, is the last four years we have kind of reached back out to those legends of the organization and brought them in for games and things, and they really appreciate that. So now they are going to be even closer to us."
Because of the impending move -- the Rams must be out of their Rams Park facility by the end of March -- Fisher recently stepped down from the NFL's competition committee. He said it was necessary so he could focus on the details of the move.
"Two weeks ago I had a conversation with the commissioner and I stepped down from the committee, for obvious reasons," Fisher said. "I spoke to some of the other committee members, and just the time required of me as far as this move is concerned makes this really difficult to commit 100 percent. I look at it as hopefully being a leave of absence. But I'm not participating right now."
The Rams are expected to open their new Inglewood stadium in 2019. The team will play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2016.
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