Remembering the trade that ended HC Jeff Fisher's tenure with the Rams

The Los Angeles Rams were desperate to improve the team's fortunes as the front office turned its attention to face the 2016 NFL Draft. We've talked about the regrettable reign of Saint Louis Rams Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo. It was Coach Spags' oversight that led to the 1-15 season that ultimately put the Rams into a position to draft rookie quarterback Sam Bradford with the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. But that was not a good year for drafting a quarterback.

Not good at all.

The list of Rams starting quarterbacks from 2010 through 2015 was both long and disappointing. The Rams started Sam Bradford, Nick Foles, Case Keenum, Austin Davis, Shaun Hill, Kellen Clemens and A.J. Feeley. None showed any promise. None offered much hope to the team.

The Rams fired Coach Spagnuolo after the 2011 season and opted to hire Jeff Fisher as the team's next head coach. He was an improvement, but only up to a point. As almost all fans recall, he was cursed with the fact that his team could never achieve a winning record. In five NFL seasons, he finished with a record of 7-8-1 once, 7-9 twice, 6-10 once, and when his record fell to 4-9 in his fifth season, he was fired, and special teams coordinator John Fassel took over.

But Jeff Fisher made two achievements that would change the course of the Rams franchise forever. In 2016, he oversaw the team's cross-country trek from Saint Louis, Missouri, back to Los Angeles, California. And in the 2016 NFL Draft, he was part of the Rams' brain trust that selected rookie quarterback Jared Goff with the first overall pick.

The trade that ended HC Jeff Fisher's tenure with the Rams

Whether you believe that the Rams football team was bereft of talent or was simply the result of outdated coaching strategies, the team had run a gamut of quarterbacks through the offense with little to no improvement. After the team traded QB Sam Bradford to the Philadelphia Eagles for backup quarterback Nick Foles, and Foles struggled, the dice were cast.

The Rams made a decision that would be incredibly expensive, but would change the course of the team forever. The team needed to land a top-tier rookie quarterback in the 2016 NFL Draft. The problem was: The team's record of 7-9 put the team at the podium with the 15th overall pick, not the first overall pick.

Still.

The Rams knew that their only hope of long-lasting future success for the football team was to engineer a trade up in the 2016 NFL Draft and choose wisely. The first hurdle was the fact that the Tennessee Titans, not the soon-to-be Los Angeles Rams, possessed the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. The second hurdle was the tremendous cost to trade from 15th overall to the first overall pick was going to exact a heavy toll on the Rams' future. Not just in the 2016 NFL Draft, but for years to come.

But the Rams felt that a deal was doable. The Tennessee Titans still had many friends and colleagues of their former HC Jeff Fisher. So the two teams were on great terms. And a deal of such magnitude was not the type that could be written on the back of a napkin and shake hands to finalize over drinks at a bar. This was a trade that would ultimately require nine draft picks and two NFL Drafts to complete.

In the end, the Rams agreed to acquire

Titans 2016 Round 1 pick (1st overall)
Titans 2016 Round 4 pick (133rd overall)
Titan 2016 Round 6 pick (177th overall)

And the Tennessee Titans agreed to acquire:

Rams 2016 Round 1 pick (15th overall)
Rams 2016 Round 2 pick (43rd overall, via Eagles)
Rams 2016 Round 2 pick (45th overall)
Rams 2016 Round 3 pick (76th overall)
Rams 2017 Round 1 pick (5th overall)
Rams 2017 Round 3 pick (100th overall)

And with the first pick of the 2016 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Rams selected California quarterback Jared Goff.

So, what was the problem?

So the Rams pulled off a miraculous blockbuster trade and emerged from the 2016 NFL Draft with the franchise rookie quarterback of their dreams. But as soon as he suited up to play for the Los Angeles Rams, all of that spark and production that skyrocketed him to the top of the draft seemed to dissipate like fog on a sunny day. He was promoted to starter in mid-season, but failed to win a single game in seven starts.

By the end of his rookie season, Goff had completed 112 of 205 passes for 1089 yards, five touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He pulled the football down and ran eight times for 16 yards, fumbling five times and losing two fumbles. He was sacked a total of 26 times for a loss of 222 yards as well.

That performance proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that HC Jeff Fisher, despite a long history of success in the NFL, was simply not the right guy to optimize a young modern quarterback's NFL production.

How did HC Sean McVay turn the ship around?

Many factors enabled Rams' newly hired Head Coach to turn things around so very quickly. The first component was the fact that while Coach Fisher did not have the desired success for the team, he had engineered a team that was fundamentally sound in the trenches. All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald was already dominating on the defensive line of scrimmage.

And he inherited one of the NFL's most versatile and electrifying running backs in Todd Gurley.

So, Coach McVay only needed to find his blind side franchise left tackle. The team pulled that off with veteran LT Andrew Whitworth. Done.

With his protection upgraded, the Rams next focused on completely redesigning the offense. The Rams' offense needed weapons, so the team signed veteran WR Robert Woods. The team next drafted TE Gerald Everett, WR Cooper Kupp, and WR Josh Reynolds. The team had its four eligibles, a trademark that would change professional football strategy for years to come.

So, all that was needed was to upgrade second-year quarterback Jared Goff. How could Coach McVay pull that off? We just learned the details this year. Rams HC Sean McVay reached out to then-QB Dan Orlovsky to sign with the Rams for the 2017 NFL season. The objective was not to have a veteran who could back up Goff on the football field. Rather, it was to have a veteran mentor to teach Goff how to study videos, understand defensive coverages, and be able to make the right plays as a result.

The Rams could not let Goff continue to lose without support. By hiring Coach Sean McVay, Jared Goff pivoted from confused to contributor. And that all culminated in the Rams rising to a record of 11-5.

Had the Rams not traded for the right to select Jared Goff in the 2016 NFL Draft, the team may not have been motivated to change head coaches. But after trading a king's ransom for Jared Goff, the team only had one more option remaining. That trade that ended HC Jeff Fisher's tenure with the Rams, and started a new chapter for Rams HC Sean McVay.

As always, thanks for reading.