Can do this all day

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Jeff Fisher didn't tell the Dolphins he was off to St. Louis. Fisher's agent, Marvin Demoff, did. And Demoff didn't call Dolphins owner Steve Ross or General Manager Jeff Ireland with the news.

Demoff called Carl Peterson.

Therein lie some uncovered answers regarding the Dolphins failed courtship of Fisher and how the next, uncertain step will be conducted. But the first answer involves the question Ross is getting hammered for nationally:

Should he have given Fisher final say in personnel matters to sign him as coach?

Consider only three NFL coaches have such power: New England's Bill Belichick, Washington's Mike Shanahan and Seattle's Pete Carroll. If Fisher becomes Belichick, that's one thing. If he's Shanahan, that's quite another.

St. Louis evidently gave Fisher such power, too. But St. Louis doesn't have a general manager. Will it get a real one now? Does it get a glorified scout knowing Fisher has control?

So the real question with the Dolphins' decision to deny Fisher the ultimate power isn't the decision itself. Few teams would have given him the business card he wanted.

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Ross' insistence that incumbent general manager Jeff Ireland would retain contractual control of the team's roster makeup was a far more significant factor in Fisher's decision-making process. "At the end of the day I wanted the ability to have final say, with a general manager I could build something with," Fisher said. "And ultimately, a lot of it came down to Stan and Sam."