<
>

Rams sorting through coordinator options

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers are the only teams remaining without an offensive coordinator in place. With 10 coordinator jobs all over the league having been filled (11 if you count Scott Linehan's "promotion" in Dallas), the list of known candidates for the Rams has dwindled.

But the Rams and coach Jeff Fisher will have to make a decision at some point and could be drawing closer to one. Tuesday brings with it one option that is still in play for the job and another that's been taken off the table.

The most obvious of those choices is former Buffalo offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Hackett interviewed with Fisher last Thursday and remains firmly in the mix for the job. In fact, Hackett is the only outside candidate known to have interviewed for the job to this point and is scheduled to speak to the Rams again on Tuesday. The fact that he's getting a second interview at the very least means Fisher is intrigued enough to continue considering him, even if it guarantees nothing when it comes to hiring him.

Also on Tuesday, another candidate the Rams are known to have interest in was supposed to become available for interviews. That's Indianapolis Colts special assistant Rob Chudzinski. The Rams previously requested permission to interview Chudzinski but the Colts denied them permission. San Francisco has also expressed interest in Chudzinski but hasn't talked to him yet.

But the Colts announced Tuesday morning that Chudzinski will be staying in Indianapolis as associate head coach. At the Colts' end-of-season news conference, general manager Ryan Grigson indicated that retaining Chudzinski was a possibility.

“I’m not going to get into specifics,” Grigson said. “But it’s ultimately my job to make sure that good people stay in this building and don’t just walk right out. So we’ll address that and do our best to keep good people here.”

Hackett spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator for Doug Marrone in Buffalo. During his time, the Bills struggled offensively with an unsettled quarterback situation not unlike the one the Rams currently have. Still, there are some league observers who believe Hackett has the makeup to be successful if given the right tools with which to work.

Aside from Hackett, the only other potential candidates linked to the job include in-house options such as tight ends coach Rob Boras and quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti. It's also possible there are others that have not been revealed, but without many candidates to consider, the Rams will have to come to a resolution to their search sooner than later.