Rams Looking To Extend Fisher and Snead

Imagine giving your dog a treat every time he or she urinated on the carpet.  You’d simply shake your head at someone who did that because they would be rewarding poor behavior.

It appears as if Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is doing the NFL equivalent of the same thing.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the team is looking to extend the contracts of head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead.

Rams trying and expecting to extend contracts of HC Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead before regular season starts, per sources. Deals likely.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 13, 2016

Fisher downplayed the report of a new deal.

“I don’t know where those reports came from and I’ve never gone into the details regarding my own personal situation,” Fisher said. “I haven’t talked to Adam Schefter or anybody, so we’ll see what happens.”

At this point we don’t know the length and terms of these prospective contracts, but does it really matter?

Since the pair arrived in 2012 they have yet to experience a single winning season.  Sure, the Rams were bad prior to the Fisher/Snead ticket being placed in office, but four consecutive losing season normally does not a contract extension make.

The Rams, who are being featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” are aware of their current losing ways and Fisher believes that this year will be different.

“I’m not … going 7-9 or 8-8 or 9-7 … we have too much talent here for that,” Fisher said on the HBO series.

It’s more likely that his team does finish in the seven-to-nine victory range as they’ve been there in three of his four seasons with the Rams.  The other season (2014) they went 6-10.

The fact that Fisher has this reputation of being one of the league’s great coaches is more propaganda than fact-based.  He’s had exactly two winning seasons in the last 11 and hasn’t even been to a conference championship game since 2002, when his Tennessee Titans were defeated by the Oakland Raiders.

It’s understandable that Kroenke would want some continuity and stability as he uprooted the team from St. Louis back to Los Angeles.  Still, hitching your wagons to the Snead-Fisher train has proven to only lead to derailment.

With that said, it’s easier to make a case for Snead than Fisher.  The Rams have drafted reasonably well since the man with the beautiful hair took over.  Each of the team’s first-round picks since he took over is still on the team and defensive tackle Aaron Donald is one of the absolute steals of the 2014 NFL Draft (unfortunately, offensive tackle Greg Robinson is anything but).  Ultimately, 2016 No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff will likely determine the pair’s ultimate fate.

The team gave up a king’s ransom to move up with Tennessee to select him and he needs to be the franchise quarterback that has eluded both Fisher and Snead.  If not….it’s likely that the pair will get a shorter term, multi-million dollar extension in 2019.

49ers QB Lewis Tears ACL

The San Francisco 49ers bad injury luck at the quarterback position keeps getting worse as backup Thaddeus Lewis has reportedly torn his ACL and will miss the entire 2016 season.

Source: #49ers QB Thad Lewis suffered a torn ACL. Out for the season.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 15, 2016

Lewis left Sunday’s preseason loss to the Houston Texans in the third quarter after completing 12 of his 21 passes for 97 yards.

The 28-year old from Duke was trying to make his sixth different team since 2010, and had a solid chance prior to the injury as he followed head coach Chip Kelly from Philadelphia, where he played the 2015 season.

He will be 29 years old before the end of the calendar year and it’s highly uncertain whether Lewis will be able to get another shot to make an NFL roster.

The 49ers will likely have to sign a quarterback as Colin Kaepernick is currently on the shelf with a sore shoulder and it’s unclear when he will be able to return.  No team wants to go into the bulk of their preseason schedule with just two healthy quarterbacks, especially in Chip Kelly’s system.

Those healthy quarterbacks are Blaine Gabbert and rookie Jeff Driskel.

It looks like it’s going to be a very long season for 49ers fans.

Bucs Extend Demar Dotson

It might be little more than a blip on the NFL radar, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rewarded former undrafted free agent right tackle Demar Dotson with a three-year contract worth $16.5 million, according to an ESPN report.

Bucs gave OT Demar Dotson a 3-year, $16.5M extension, per source. He's now under contract to Bucs for next four seasons.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 15, 2016

“Throughout his time as a Buccaneer, Demar has consistently shown improvement in every facet of his game,” said Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht. “It is especially gratifying when you can see a player develop within your own organization and then reward him for that hard work. Since arriving here as a college free agent in 2009, Demar has worked extremely hard and developed into one of the top offensive tackles in the league. He will continue to play a key role on our offensive line for years to come.”

Dotson is the longest-tenured current Buccaneer who played just one season of college football at Southern Miss as a defensive lineman. In seven seasons, he has played in 76 career games, with 52 starts, including starting 50 of the last 54 contests he has appeared in.

In 2012, Dotson started 15 games and was part of an offensive line that tied for the third-fewest sacks allowed in the NFL (26), while helping pave the way for rookie running back Doug Martin’s 1,454 rushing yards – the second-most in a single season in franchise history. From 2012-14, Dotson started 47 consecutive games, helping anchor the offensive line.

Biermann To Sign With Bills

With the Buffalo Bills suffering a rash of injuries to the linebacker position, the team signed veteran Kroy Biermann who played his entire nine-year career with the Atlanta Falcons.  To make room for him, the team waived (injured) linebacker IK Enemkpali, who tore his ACL over the weekend.

We've officially signed LB Kroy Biermann. Welcome @biermann71!

Enemkpali is waived/injured. https://t.co/DJtlRBSKiM pic.twitter.com/vzWgYV5fV6

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 15, 2016

The former fifth-round pick has turned into a rotational type of player and hasn’t been overly productive in at least two years.  Atlanta finished dead last in the NFL in sacks last season and they let him go.

It’s no lock that the 30-year old, whose wife is a reality television star will actually make the team.