ST. LOUIS — After the short-lived and ill-fated Titus Young experiment, it’s back to the drawing board for the Rams at the wide receiver position.
The Rams released Young on Friday, just nine days after the team claimed him off the waiver wire from Detroit.
“We spent probably four or five days with him and as an organization – at the end of the interview process, let’s call it – we decided it was best for us to go a different direction,” Fisher said Friday. “We just felt that he was not the best option for us at that position. He’s an outstanding young talent and we’re gonna wish him well.”
Young was at Rams Park on Monday and spent the better part of the week meeting with coaches and team officials, as well as taking a physical. Fisher called it an “extended” interview process to try to get to know Young and see if he would be a fit with the Rams.
After his Feb. 4 release by Detroit, the other 30 NFL teams took a pass on Young, who had several behavioral issues with the Lions this past season. The Rams were the only team to claim him. Fisher said that by claiming Young, the Rams would “have his undivided attention.”
But it took only a few days to figure out that Young was a no-go in St. Louis. In brief encounters with Young during the week at Rams Park several team employees said that Young seemed fine. But others said he didn’t seem “quite there” mentally.
“We went into detail,” Fisher said of the interview process. “We felt like we’ve got a good, young group (at wide receiver), and we feel like perhaps Titus is better suited for another organization.”
As an aside, Fisher said that Young’s health was not an issue.
With Young out of the picture, there’s a chance that the ranks of that “good, young group” at wide receiver could be thinning out before its ranks get replenished. That’s because two of the team’s most productive wideouts last season – Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson – are scheduled for unrestricted free agency on March 12, or just 3½ weeks from now.
The Rams and Amendola are far apart in terms of what it will take to re-sign him. And re-signing Gibson doesn’t appear likely because the Rams need to use their limited salary cap resources on other players. If both Amendola and Gibson leave, the Rams will have only three wideouts under contract that played for them last season: Austin Pettis, Chris Givens and Brian Quick.
“Not a concern whatsoever,” Fisher said. “There’s options out there. The free-agent market, there’s options out there, and it’s a great draft for a receiver this year.”
When asked if the Rams wanted Amendola back, Fisher replied: “Oh yes, we’ve got a number of unrestricted free agents on our roster that we want back, and Danny would be one of them. ‘Jack’ (Steven Jackson) would be another. We’ve got plenty of time. The process is ongoing. We’re communicating with their agents and so on and so forth.”
SPEAKING OF JACKSON
Actually, Jackson isn’t a free agent yet. He has until March 12 to decide whether or not to void the final year of his Rams contract, so time is running short. Nonetheless, it’s almost universally expected at Rams Park that Jackson will void the contract and explore the free-agent market. The team has yet to meet with Jackson’s agent on the matter.
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