The St. Louis Rams hired Frank Cignetti Jr. as their new offensive coordinator for the upcoming 2015 season. Cignetti has been with the Rams since the 2012 season and was originally hired as quarterback coach.
The Rams did an extensive search for this position. They came up empty time and time again. It did surprise me that the Rams waited this long to offer the job to Cignetti. They could’ve lost Cignetti because he interviewed for then-vacated OC position with the Cleveland Browns.
I think the Rams OC position was a tough sale for Coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead for two reasons: the philosophy of the style of offense, and the future of the franchise in St. Louis.
As far as offensive philosophy, it makes sense why the Rams stayed in-house. But, they had to at least kick the tires on a Rob Chudzinski or Alex Gase. Former Rams coach extraordinaire Mike Martz was a popular choice. From a public relations standpoint, he’d put assets in the seats. However, Martz would overshadow Fisher, especially if the offense returned to some form of life.
I give Fisher and Snead credit for inquiring about Green Bay Packers QB coach Alex Van Pelt and former Cleveland Browns OC Kyle Shanahan. Had the Rams been successful in landing either one of those two, the offense scheme would’ve been intriguing to watch.
None of that matters now. Cignetti has served as an OC at the college level with stops at Fresno State, North Carolina, California (Berkeley), Pittsburg and Rutgers. His longest stint as an OC was at Fresno State from 2002-2005. And in 2004 the Fresno State Bulldogs were ranked 5th nationally and followed that up with a 7th-ranked offense in 2005.
Throughout Cignetti’s career he’s bounced around, between the NCAA and NFL. Cignetti has worked for nine different programs in the last 15 years. It came close to almost being 10.
This is going to be his first time as an OC in the NFL. Everyone at one point or another went through this. Fisher went through this. Even Martz went through it. Martz’s first time as OC was back in 1999, and we saw how that turned out.
Now that the Rams have their guy in place, the focus has turned back to the most important position on the team: QB. Cignetti has worked with Sam Bradford since he joined Fisher’s staff in 2012. They have a rapport with each other and a good relationship. But can it transfer on the field for 16 weeks and beyond?
March is literally around the corner, and more decisions have to be made about the offense. So Cignetti is going to have his hands full, from personnel to implementing his own scheme. I hope that Cignetti can use the talent on the roster and get more out of them. Just like last year and the year before that, the Rams will go as far as the offense takes them. And since 2005 the Rams’ offense has done nothing more but take them out of the playoffs.
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