St. Louis Rams Refuse to Be Held Hostage by Jeff Fisher, Looking at Jay Gruden

Jeff Fisher may be the biggest name available on the market, but the Rams are not keeping their focus exclusively on him. 

UPDATE: Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 at 4:34 p.m. EST

Jason La Canfora of NFL Network is reporting that Jay Gruden has pulled his name out the mix for any head coaching vacancy and will return to the Bengals. 

According to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Rams have asked for permission to speak with Cincinnati Bengals' Offensive Coordinator Jay Gruden. 

The Bengals' season came to an end on Saturday with a playoff loss to the Texans. 

This is a move that the Rams have to make. Mike Freeman of CBSSports had previously reported that the Rams were close to bringing in Fisher, but that's not something that the team can wait around on. 

It may seem ridiculous to say that the Rams quickly need to move towards next season. After all, their season ended less than two weeks ago and the NFL Playoffs are only in the second round. 

But what the Rams can't do is wait around a long time for Fisher, only to have him stay out of the NFL, or go somewhere else. It's purely speculative as to how long that would take, and that's not a chance the Rams can really take. 

Also, asking for permission to interview Gruden doesn't eliminate Fisher as an option. If nothing else, see this as something that can force his hand a little bit to make a decision. 

And Gruden is a viable option as a head man. Coaching is in his blood, as his brother Jon is a Super Bowl winner. The development of rookies Andy Dalton and A.J. Green can be largely attributed to Gruden. 

Given that the Rams' future is going to be largely dependent on the health and development of Sam Bradford, an offensive head coach is at least a good option to explore. 

Ultimately, the Rams must quickly figure out which direction they want to go in. A huge part of that is finding a coach, who can make decisions on what players and coaches need to be dumped, or brought in. Also, as the Rams have the No. 2 pick in the draft, they need to develop a clear plan for that soon. 

They can't sit around and wait on Fisher or anyone else. The more they have to wait, the less likely they are to progress. 

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