Fisher has eyes for Bears, but Rams still probably destination

Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden were the headline candidates fueling the training market rumor mill through the fall.

But Shaun Fisher may be the one holding all of the cards if this counts.

The previous Leaders coach is offseason's energy broker while Cowher and Gruden watch in the sideline. Miami already has questioned Fisher, who had been spotted in the Buccaneers team hotel over the past weekend. Had Bill Polian made it in Indiana, and Jim Caldwell hadn't, it is a near certainty that Fisher could have been presents itself that list too. North Park had been as likely a landing place every until Dean Spanos made the decision to help keep Norv Turner.

But here's all that you should learn about Fisher's likely destination: Atop his listing of focal points is the existence of a franchise quarterback. Regardless of the Rams' lethargic 2011 season, I am told that's precisely how he sees Mike Bradford, who Fisher questioned and loved a great deal in the 2010 National football league Scouting Mix.

This is exactly why, hooking up the dots, St. Louis is towards the top of Fisher's list. The truth that Fisher is symbolized by Marvin Demoff, who boy Kevin may be the Rams' COO, only causes it to be much more likely that he'll land in Missouri.

There's, though, another factor at play here. This is the shakeup in Chicago.

Fisher performed safety for that Bears (1981-85) and it has maintained rapport with possession. Like a bonus, he transpires with like quarterback Jay Cutler a great deal. Cutler and former Leaders offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, who died last September, labored together in Colorado in 2006-07 and were very close. The Leaders were split over Matt Leinart and Vince Youthful in 2006, with Bud Adams tugging rank and pointing the choice to take Youthful. The Leaders handed down Cutler, who visited college within their backyard at Vanderbilt.

Fisher understands the ball player Cutler is becoming since that time.

The Bears insist Lovie Cruz will stay the coach in Chicago for 2012, and that he warrants a mulligan for 2011, getting lost Cutler and Matt Forte for that stretch run. If your more youthful executive type for example Eric DeCosta or L'ensemble des Snead makes its way into the fold the training situation likely will not change. But when the Bears swing for that fences for any bigger title like Bill Polian, it's tough to rule anything out. Polian and Fisher are close, getting taken part within the AFC South for several years.

The end result is that Fisher will keep close track of Halas Hall. As you source with understanding of his thinking stated, "This is the one he's always wanted."

The much more likely result remains that Cruz will remain put and Fisher lands in St. Louis. But until tips over with Fisher, the training slide carousel will probably spend time at a dead stop.

Once he makes his move, pieces elsewhere will begin to fall under place.

Players standing strong -- and better stay that way

MARCO ISLAND, Fla. -- For those who think the NFL and its players will settle their differences soon -- or soon enough so that mini-camps, offseason workouts or training camps won't be affected -- there was a sobering message Thursday from San Francisco player representative Takeo Spikes.

"The mindset," he said, "is not to show up until August. That's the mindset we have to take for now. As players, we want to play. We didn't lock ourselves out."

Spikes is right on two counts. They did not lock themselves out, and, yes, they should prepare for the worst -- even though a court decision in early April could bring relief. Ten players signed on as plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit scheduled to be heard in a federal court April 6.

If the players win, the lockout is broken and players can return -- though it would be under rules imposed by the league and almost surely rules for the 2010 season.
But if they lose? Well, that's why Spikes and others are here. Their message to players is to stay united, stay strong and stay together -- and for now they are. But it's March, and no game checks have been missed, and bills aren't accumulating. But if it's August, and there's still no football ... well, then we have a potential problem.
Correction: The players have a potential problem.
Because the last time there was a work stoppage in the NFL striking players couldn't wait to jump the picket line. Granted, the scenario was different. It was a strike, not a lockout, so players can't cross a picket line that doesn't exist.
But they can cross their leadership. The unity on display at this weekend's meetings will be tested if nothing is resolved in the coming months, which is why player representatives are here. Like Spikes, they're preparing themselves -- and teammates -- for worst-case scenarios, hoping they don't happen but prepared if they do.
”You have to continue to feed guys information," said the Jets' Tony Richardson. "I know some guys can get isolated and bury themselves in that deep corner, but those are the guys I have to keep reaching out to. A lot of our young players ... I have to keep them engaged because this thing could go for a long time."
As I said, the courts will have something to say about that, but, in the end, so will NFL owners. The last time we saw them they were preaching negotiation, not litigation, so you have to believe they'll return to the bargaining table. The question, of course, is: When?
For the moment, players don't seem concerned, content to let the federal courts weigh in first. Eventually, however, they'll have to deal with owners again, and they made it clear again Thursday that they cannot and will not strike a deal without gaining detailed financial statements.
That's not exactly a revelation. But this is: Players acknowledged that they don't need 10 years of audited statements, as they demanded, or even five, as owners proposed. What they do want are detailed audits, and they said they would be willing to have them submitted to a neutral party agreeable to both sides.
Thus far, they said they've seen nothing of the sort -- getting "snapshots, an aggregate of a few teams," as Richardson put it -- and that won't cut it.
"How far apart are you?" Sean Morey, a former player and member of the players' executive committee, was asked.
He shrugged.
"How do we know?" he said. "If the owners are incapable of providing audited financial statements. We can't sit back and just trust them at their word."
That's understandable, particularly in light of this month's court decision that ruled the NFL acted against the players' interests when it negotiated its last TV contracts. But the more players press, the more, they say, management resists.
Once upon a time, I thought the problem was the disclosure process itself -- basically, that players wanted financial statements that owners were unwilling to provide. But then owners offered five years of team-by-team statements to be reviewed by a neutral party, and when that didn't fly I thought the neutral party was the problem.
Wrong again. It turns out the players want line-by-line itemizing, and they don't care who sees it -- just so long as they're viewed. Good luck. I don't see that happening soon, another reason Spikes and his colleagues better stay strong.
"The numbers they're willing to provide," said Morey, "don't give us any sort of definitive ability to analyze data and reach a conclusion as to what we can negotiate and what's a fair deal.
"I mean, they say they have decreasing profitability. But if you think of the significance of profitability -- with all the other line items unavailable -- how do we get a real clear picture of what their potential costs are, what their revenue is and what their decreasing profitability is?"
"But when you ask for those statements," he was asked, "what is their response?"
"We wouldn't be able to understand it" Morey said, quoting a management source. "They said, 'We provided that information, and you wouldn’t be able to understand. (We said) 'You know what? We're players, and we're coachable."
Morey went to Brown University, so he knows he would be able to understand. So would Richardson, who has an MBA. So there must be another reason, and Morey thinks there is.
"(So we don't) see how much money they're going to make down the road," he said. "They understand. They totally comprehend it. (Dallas owner) Jerry Jones sat across from us and said he's a professional optimist. Damn right he is. He understands the league now is more profitable than ever and the amount of money they're able to make down the road is something I personally believe they don't want to share."
Maybe. All I know is that talk is cheap, and this lockout is not. And it could be months before it's resolved. Players keep telling us they stand for what's right and what's fair, and maybe they do. But they also tell us this is a business negotiation, and what's right and what's fair don't always win.
"I think we're stronger than ever," said Richardson.
They may have to be.