By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

MOBILE, Ala. – Entering one of the most important offseasons for the franchise since it moved to St. Louis, the Rams come to the Senior Bowl this week with heavy hearts and a lot to get done.

After the passing of owner Georgia Frontiere to a long, hard fought battle with breast cancer over the weekend, an offseason doused in uncertainty has added even more volatility coming into this week.

As the majority of the Rams and Frontiere’s family continues grieving, there are plenty of coaches and scouts convening here in Alabama for the first step toward the large revamp that will be needed between now and September for the Rams to take steps back toward the playoffs.

This week is simply the jumping off point for what will almost certainly be a long and arduous task for coach Scott Linehan and Co. in this offseason. The Rams have coaching staff additions to make and obviously need plenty of help in terms of personnel to correct what ailed a 3-13 team a season ago.

The first order of business for Linehan this week is replacing Greg Olson, the re-assigned offensive coordinator who is likely on his way to Tampa Bay or Detroit.

“I think early next week I would have somebody in place,” Linehan said. “I am still talking to some guys. I have formally interviewed a couple of guys. I have done several phone interviews to gauge interest and find out more about people. I have called a lot of people on behalf of these coaching candidates. Our number one goal is to come away with the best fit right now but also not hurry or rush into anything. It’s just such a critical hire.”

Linehan has indeed at least kicked the tires on a number of potential candidates. Established names such as Cam Cameron, Brian Billick and Norm Chow have spoken with Linehan and up and comers like Ken Zampese and Hue Jackson have also been in the mix.

The picture for that job became slightly less muzzled Monday when it appeared Cameron was headed for the same job in Baltimore and Chow was likely set to return to the college ranks at UCLA, though the interest in Chow was mostly tepid.

Indications point to Zampese being the favorite to land the job, but anything could happen this week as the Senior Bowl also serves as an unofficial job fair for out of work coaches and those aspiring to something bigger.

Likewise, the Rams also have a vacancy for the secondary coach after the dismissal of Willy Robinson on Friday afternoon. That gig could go to assistant secondary coach Ron Milus, but Linehan will look at plenty of others as well.

Regardless, expect the Rams to have a full coaching staff by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of work to be done in preparation for April’s NFL Draft. Aside from the normal scouting and tape evaluation, the Senior Bowl provides the first opportunity for the coaching staff and scouts to see all of the nation’s best senior players in live action.

Although the Rams, like most staffs, won’t all stick around for Saturday’s game, they will attend the practices this week. In addition, the Rams are one of few teams in the league to take advantage of the opportunity to conduct short interviews with every single prospect in Mobile.

“The coaching thing, you don’t want to do much of that at the Senior Bowl,” Linehan said. “You are evaluating the players. We meet with every player; probably not many teams will do that. It has helped us in the last couple of drafts, knowing a lot about the guys we picked coming out of that game.”

It’s more than likely that the Rams won’t be selecting a player from the Senior Bowl with the 2nd overall selection. Generally, the cream of the crop chooses not to participate in this game with the likes of Virginia defensive end Chris Long, Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long and LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey choosing not to attend. And that doesn’t even include the myriad under classmen who simply can’t attend.

But that doesn’t mean the Rams aren’t going to take a good, long look at many of the players in attendance.

“There’s a pretty good chance the No. 2 pick won’t come out of the game,” Linehan said. “That’s pretty much the standard. The guys that have a pretty good idea of where they will be drafted don’t play in the game anymore. It’s pretty good for the 34th pick. I’d say your second, third and fourth round pick will usually come out of that game.”

Or, potentially a first round pick if you don’t pick in the top 10 or so. The Rams caught glimpses of each of their past two top picks in cornerback Tye Hill and defensive lineman Adam Carriker in Mobile as well as last year’s second round choice Brian Leonard. 

“Those are the kind of things you get a feel for that you don’t really get at the combine because these are probably the elite seniors,” Linehan said. “You kind of get to know some of them.”

Should the Rams elect to trade down in April’s draft, there are plenty of names who could draw their attention in the middle part of the first round. USC defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson and South Florida cornerback Mike Jenkins highlight this year’s crop of Senior Bowlers.

Those middle picks are nothing to sneeze at, either, considering San Francisco got its first look at linebacker Patrick Willis at last year’s Senior Bowl. The 49ers staff is coaching in the game again and it’s no wonder it jumped at the chance considering Willis’ dominant rookie performance.

The Rams coaching staff seemed poised to coach one of the teams, but was passed over because of the aforementioned coaching changes.

“Because we had some staff changes we were in position to possibly coach in this game, but they ended up passing on us because of that,” Linehan said. “I think we can get a lot out of it anyway because we spend a lot of time getting to know the players. We wanted to do it, it seemed like it would have been good. It was significant enough that you have to have coaches in place and our guys wouldn’t be ready to do that. That was really the only reason why. We will put a lot of work in down here and with the picks we have we will still benefit from it.”

And, unlike February’s scouting combine, the Senior Bowl provides the unique opportunity to watch top players in full pads and practice drills as opposed to the shorts and t-shirt meat market that is the combine. 

“That’s probably one of the best evaluations we have other than the game film,” Linehan said. “They are playing at a very competitive level against the best so you get to see how they stack up. I think it really helps guys from the smaller colleges you get to see how they play against the highest rated players. They get a taste of what the NFL is all about.”