The St. Louis Rams have fired General Manager Billy Devaney, according to Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network. The news that Devaney has been fired comes moments after the team confirmed that head coach Steve Spagnuolo was fired on Monday morning. Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported last night that both Spagnuolo and Devaney would be fired, a move most have been predicting for some time.
Devaney's tenure as the Rams' lead personnel man brought mixed results. The Rams scored on some draft picks in the upper rounds of the draft, from Sam Bradford to James Laurinaitis and Bradley Fletcher. Their selection of offensive tackle Jason Smith proved to be a big bust, and an expensive one. Free agency has been hit or miss for the Rams. Additions like Quintin Mikell and Harvey Dahl have paid dividends, but other shortcomings, like Jason Brown and the outside linebackers added this year, have not produced the desired results.
Of course, Spagnuolo had tremendous sway over personnel moves as well. Devaney deferred to his coaches on more than draft pick, most notably the decision to select tight end Lance Kendricks in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Spagnuolo had final say over the 53-man roster, which saw the Rams cut many of their promising young players selected in the later rounds of the draft.
Rumors about A.J. Smith as a potential candidate have since come to look a little shaky. Brandon took a look at some potential replacements for the Rams' GM job recently.
Lots more to come today, be sure to follow us on Twitter @TurfShowTimes to stay on top of it all.
0 recs | 23 comments
Finally
John Dorsey please
Jae-So - January 2, 2012
hahaha yes baby
u spags and billy supporters can finally shut the hell up about how great a 10 38 coach is
G unit Rams - January 2, 2012
+1
JHaier - January 2, 2012
Im not sure how well the new gm/hc
Will turn things around, but I’m glad this era has come to an end. hopefully spag goes to the eagles as a dc
Rando - January 2, 2012 via mobile
The sky is falling!
3k - January 2, 2012
Praise For Stan
That a boy Stan! Get started early! Now lets find the right people to run this organization. Some real talent evaluators.
Ryballa22 - January 2, 2012
How long will it take to hire a coach and GM?
And which one will we hire first?
StopSpe - January 2, 2012
We were the first to clean house
So i guess we get first dibs on new coaches and gms
Ram_Redemption - January 2, 2012 via mobile
uh.... Miami and KC fired their flopping coaches during the season. TB fired Raheem today. We ain't ahead of nobody.
JHaier - January 2, 2012
Hats off to Stan on this
I like Spags, he’s a great guy, and a tremendous human being… but football coach, he is not.
Devaney started off looking like a genius but this year he flopped.
This had to be done. Tough to make these decisions, but the right one was made.
VTramsFan - January 2, 2012
I think you're right...
Some fans could not separate Spags the person from Spags the coach.
victorian - January 2, 2012
+1
JHaier - January 2, 2012
Al Harris for Head Coach
Old equipment manager for GM. Boom!
DCRamFan - January 2, 2012
lol. The team average age got a lot younger when Al announced his retirement.
We’ll continue to get younger by default as guys like Robbins, Feeley, Brown, etc. drop off the team.
JHaier - January 2, 2012
Agreed
Brown and Bell should be gone. Smith is retained for a sliver or his current salary and moved to the inside. (or else cut) Saffold moves to RT and we’re ready for an offseason.
New GM uses FA and draft to get a LT and C for the OL. A WR for Sam, an eventual successor for SJax and a pair of OLBs.
STLRambler - January 2, 2012
In other news the Sun did in fact rise this morning LOL
Personally I like both Devaney and Spags but I believe the results prove neither deserved to finish out their contracts. I hope this means there has already been a direction on where we go for their replacements.
Also I would hope we keep McDaniels on the staff if at all possible if for no other reason than to resign Lloyd. Just make sure we hire a head coach that can step in and control the offense… obviously one of Spags downfalls was his inability to address the offensive side of the ball.
Sggladden - January 2, 2012
Isn't it a little early to conclude that Davaney scored with the Bradford pick as you suggest?
It was one thing to be able to throw a lot of accurate passes behind OK’s big O line against the many cupcakes that populate their schedule and quite another to do so in the NFL. I’m not saying I think it is time to call Bradford a bust yet, but to call that pick a score at this point almost seems like you were watching different games than I was.
WestCoastBuc - January 2, 2012
Indeed. Bradford has A LOT to prove. Mike Ditka might be right
Give Brad a decent offensive line, keep Brandon Lloyd, draft a #1 WR, bring back Amendola and get the guy a QB coach. Then we’ll see if he’s a Manning or a Leaf.
JHaier - January 2, 2012
I wonder what bradford is thinking right now.
joemammaz - January 2, 2012
There IS hope for the future!
LARams1968 - January 2, 2012
I'd say he's the "happiest girl in the whole USA."
JHaier - January 2, 2012
What about Dennis Green for GM
he built a winner in Arizona before he left
Jcrew1179 - January 2, 2012
We know who is his, but I say we let him off the hook.
JHaier - January 2, 2012
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