Jeff Fisher and the St. Louis Rams have played the role of the "other woman" in the New Orleans Saints' "bounty" scandal.Â
After the team hired Gregg Williams this past winter, his subsequent exile from the league left St. Louis without a defensive coordinator, but the Rams are moving forward.Â
Fisher visited with ESPN's "Mike and Mike" on Friday and touched on the Williams fallout along with a number of other topics:
1. Where the D goes from here: It's no surprise, but Fisher acknowledged Williams was hired without any knowledge of the Saints' pay-for-performance investigation. "Had we been aware of it, we would not have made that hire, and nor would have Gregg accepted the job had he been able to anticipate the consequences," Fisher said, before acknowledging the team would consider bringing Williams back someday.
No defensive coordinator has been named, but Fisher shrugged off titles. He pointed to assistant head coach Dave McGinnis as someone with deep experience calling a defense. Secondary coach Chuck Cecil should see see a larger role, too. Williams' suspension stalled the installation of the Rams' D, but hearing Fisher speak -- he's already moving on, and he's as well-equipped as any coach in the league to call a game, if that's what it comes down to.
2. Sam Bradford: Fisher was clear on his quarterback. The presence of a young, franchise arm was a major selling point to the job. Bradford's injury-plagued sophomore effort wasn't a concern.Â
"There is no doubt," Fisher said. "There's a number of friends of mine in the league -- that know the league -- and I had one of them tell me, during the process, that they thought Sam may be ... the best quarterback in the league, he just hasn't had a chance to prove it yet."
3. Trading the second pick: Fisher believes trading the team's No. 2 pick for Washington's No. 6 wouldn't have gone down prior to the rookie wage scale: "I don't think that would have happened. That was an interesting process over a couple weeks ... there were a number of teams we were dealing with and ... Washington's really excited and we're really excited."Â
Fisher kept quiet on what exactly the Rams will do with that No. 6 pick. "We can go up, we can go down, we're excited."
