A few weeks ago, things were looking great for the Rams. They had beaten the 49ers at home and were sitting at 4-3 and in the playoff hunt. But guess what? They haven’t won a game since. After an absolute embarrassing loss on the road to the Baltimore Ravens, the Rams are 4-6 and playoff hopes are almost completely diminished. It would take a near miracle to make the playoffs. The Rams still have to play the Bengals, Cardinals, and Seahawks later on in the season. The proclaimed “Fisherball” isn’t working anymore. This is a list of who needs to be given the boot.
*note that when someone is listed as “optional” it means it’s about 50/50 on if they should be let go of or not.
Jeff Fisher
This is obvious. Fisher took over in 2012 and has produced a 24-30-1 record since. The team has failed to reach a .500 record in each season and it seems as if they headed down that road once again this season. Now, I will cut him some slack because of Sam Bradford getting injured in each of the last two years. But each year it remains the same; the defense plays well, offense plays bad, Rams rely on the defense, offense can’t come through, Rams lose. Finally in 2015, it seemed like it was all figured out. Sam Bradford is out of the picture, Nick Foles, a decent quarterback was brought in and we thought all problems would be solved. Wrong. Fisher stayed in house and promoted then QB coach Frank Cignetti to OC instead of going out and getting someone and the offense is as worse as ever.
Frank Cignetti
Cignetti has shown some flashes of intelligence with playcalling this year but it’s like as the game goes on, the playcalling dwindles down and just gets worse and worse. Cignetti’s playcalling is as predictable as playing against an eight year old in Madden. Cignetti is merely Schottenheimer 2.0 but with the ability to call end around plays and such for Tavon Austin. It’s time to give Cignetti the boot.
OPTIONAL: Gregg Williams
Out of Fisher, Cignetti, and Williams, Williams is the coach that I am the least disappointed in. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to Williams remaining as the Rams defensive coordinator but I also wouldn’t be opposed to the Rams completely clearing house and bringing in a new DC. That’s why I listed him as optional.
Jared Cook
I’ve been saying this since the beginning of the season. Cut Cook. We pay him too much for the little production he provides. Now I’ll give this to him, he has been coming along nicely the last few
games, but I’m not impressed enough to think he should remain with the team. He’s due to make $8 million in both 2016 and 2017. Release him.
Rodger Saffold
Yes, Saffold is the most experienced offensive lineman the Rams have. But here’s the thing. He is a walking injury hazard. I can’t even remember a season where he didn’t suffer some sort of injury. He is due to make nearly $20 million over the next three seasons and it’s just not worth keeping him. Let him go.
OPTIONAL: Greg Robinson
This one hurts to say. I was HUGE on G-Rob when we drafted him second overall in 2014. He has not played well. At all. He gets beaten off the edge all of the time. I don’t think we should completely give up and release Robinson but I think he’d be much better off playing at guard instead of tackle. Then again releasing the two-year starter wouldn’t upset most people.
Greg Zuerlein
Zuerlein has a great leg, no doubt about that. When the Rams are at home, inside the dome with no wind, he’s as automatic as it gets in the NFL. But once the Rams are on the road in an outside stadium and there’s some wind, Zuerlein is a disaster. Greg the Leg has a 61% field goal made percentage on the road this season. It’s not good. You can’t have a kicker that can only make ‘em indoors. Time to give him the boot. Oh, the irony.
OPTIONAL: Nick Foles
I myself haven’t given up on Foles yet. But he has played terribly this season. This made the Rams look quite idiotic for giving Foles a contract extension before he even played a snap in a game for
the Rams. Foles still has some potential but he needs to fix some mechanical issues. If the Rams do cut Foles, they would save some money in cap space but I don’t think the Rams front office and coaches are ready to give up on Foles quite yet.
The message here is that the Rams are not going to go anywhere with the current roster and coaching staff they have. Some serious changes need to be made if this team is going to go anywhere or do anything special. As of right now, the playoffs are OUT of the question for the Rams in 2015.
