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The St. Louis Rams requested permission to interview Omar Khan, the Steelers' exec who helped clear the cap space to sign LaMarr Woodley among other notable cap management moves.
The St. Louis Rams GM search continues. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the team has requested permission to speak with Omar Khan of the Steelers.
The Steelers do not have to grant permission for the Rams to interview Khan unless he has authority over the roster decisions, on paper anyway. They might not want to let Khan get away with that team facing a tough cap situation this year and an aging roster in need of some work to remain competitive.
Khan is a late entrant to the mix for the GM vacancy. On Tuesday, there was some speculation that the team had identified all of the potential candidates, including George Paton of the Vikings and Les Snead of the Falcons who each interviewed with the team twice. Only Paton interviewed with Fisher twice; Snead was interviewed once before the team hired Fisher.
Bill Cowher is one of Khan's biggest fans, and many expect him to be Cowher's GM if the former Steelers' coach ever decided to come out of retirement.
Khan's title with the Steelers is director of administration. The other candidates the Rams have interviewed for the GM job are personnel men, people currently serving roles directly responsible for identifying and acquiring talent for the roster. Khan's a little different in that he's a cap specialist and a chief negotiator.
COO Kevin Demoff has handled the cap and negotiations for the Rams, and has done quite well. Though cap space is tight this year, the team is looking at $30 million plus in cap space next year. Demoff also helped rearrange tight cap space in 2011 so the team could bring in a bevvy of free agent veterans.
If the Rams do hire Khan - remember they have to get permission first - we should get some clarification on who will handle cap management and negotiation. I suspect Demoff will be less directly involved as he takes on more of a lead executive role in matters such as the Dome lease negotiations.
0 recs | 17 comments
KHHHHAAAAAANNNNNNN!
Here in St. Louis we desperately need someone in the organization to have the name Khan.
Until Lake Dawson officially pulls his name out, I’m firmly in his camp.
FailureDrill - February 9, 2012 via Android app
howie43 - February 9, 2012
I really hope we don't give you permission
John Stephens - February 9, 2012
Score!!!!!
Ramzman18 - February 9, 2012 via mobile
Hmmmm....
methinks the Rams view the current core of GM hopefuls the same way they did the head coaching hopefuls. After Fisher for instance, the remaining head coaching candidates sucked. I’m assuming the best GM candidate(s) have been plucked out of the pool already and we’re settling for left-overs. It’s not good news if after 2 weeks the Rams are expanding the pool of candidates rather than narrowing the down field down.
Da Rams! - February 9, 2012
Cap Guru?
Well maybe next regime. Goodbye what few good players we have.
HomerForTheRams - February 9, 2012
I like
the idea. This would essentially allow Fish to shop for the groceries and Khan figure out how to pay for them. With the “power” over the roster that Fish has I don’t know if we would get a traditional GM but having a cap guru in that role may be the compliment Fish needs.
RWRAMS28 - February 9, 2012
i agree sounds like a winner
Ramzman18 - February 9, 2012 via mobile
Dam can we name a gm already shit!
kevio3000 - February 9, 2012 via Android app
Ron Clements just reported about 20 minutes ago
that the Rams will interview Khan today, but no report before that about having permission granted.. So did they just skip over the whole permission thing? Cuz if so that means Fisher has less control over final roster than previously thought. Why else would Pitt give us permission anyway? It looks like they have nothing to gain by letting him walk
Lexxi - February 9, 2012
The Steelers are that type of franchise
If they know one of their guys can get a promotion they cannot offer, they usually let them walk. If they were jerks and denied it, then you just have a disgruntled employee. No one wins there.
John Stephens - February 9, 2012
The Khan interview sounds like the Rams are looking for a team VP, more than a GM?
Could Stan be looking to promote Demoff to team President, and Khan is his replacement at VP?
I like the idea of not only building a great coaching staff, but a great FO too…
Douglas M - February 9, 2012
If this is the way they structure the team,
then they are banking on instant success from Fisher and a long tenure as well. The way we perform and the way our team looks will almost solely be the responsibility of Jeff Fisher and his staff and there can be no scapegoats.
Lexxi - February 9, 2012
STLtoday.com
Just posted the article on Kahn and guess what… They mentioned that one of their sources of information was none other than TST!!!!!!!!!!! Heck yeah this site rules!!! Here’s the link.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-bytes-rams-curious-gm-search/article_5b947de8-533c-11e1-bff6-0019bb30f31a.html
RamsIchor - February 9, 2012
J Fisher is building this to last ....
… with Kroneke help.
VETT - February 9, 2012
I've always respected
the way the Steelers run things down there. I’m all for bringing in members of their FO.
moy - February 9, 2012
Any Steeler player or FO is a plus
as long as they realize, no means no
fearsomefoursum - February 9, 2012
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