As usual Maxie an excellent post with a little Oliver Stone mixed in, however, some of it is not far off. As to Snead, my feeling is that if he and McVay did not hit it off, Snead was toast, but IMHO, Snead's greatest asset is his ability to get along with anyone and he modifies his opinions accordingly. Is this a good thing? Not sure because when you bring up the history of the Los Angeles/St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams the times they functioned best was when they had a group coalition with the exception of George Allen's early years, but owner Dan Reeves was the General Manager in title then.
I do believe Demoff is involved, he still hold's the title of Executive VP of Football Operations and that might change down the line as there have been rumors about Peyton Manning, but I do believe right now Demoff's and ESK for that matter number one priory is the Inglewood project, but I also believe they are not that naive to think clever marketing will sell out the stadium, eventually and sooner rather than later, you have to win football games and I believe they know that. Again that is why I don't think Demoff is attached to Snead, I believe he and McVay hit it off, similar to Thomas Dimitroff and Dan Quinn in Atlanta. Dimitroff was on the hot seat, but him and Quinn hit it off and have formed a great relationship so that is why Dimitroff is still in Atlanta and I believe the scenario was similar with McVay and Snead with the caveat being that if the Rams struggle again this season, you can bet Snead will be let go and they will hire a new President of Football Operations & GM, but I believe the Rams will actually have a solid year.
Back to the history although they never won a Super Bowl the run from 73-79 was a great run with most of that run consisting of a Head Coach in Chuck Knox who had no say in personnel and a strong GM in Don Klosterman, however, owner Carroll Rosenbloom was very much involved and was Jerry Jones before Jerry existed. Rosenbloom controlled most aspects of personnel and signed off on everything Klosterman did and in fact, it was Rosenbloom who fired George Allen back in 1978 after only two preseason games, could you imagine if that happen today?
In St. Louis the Rams had two General Managers that had total autonomy and were complete failures, first Steve Ortmayer who hired Richie Brooks and drafted Lawrence Phillips and Eddie Kennison over the likes of Eddie George & Marvin Harrison, enough posted then Billy Devaney who had a golden opportunity to acquire a boatload of draft picks back in 2008 from the Baltimore Ravens who wanted Matt Ryan, but opted to keep the pick and take Chris Long so that is why he's no longer running any show. The best scenario in the Gateway City was under Dick Vermeil, who had Charley Armey as General Manager in title, but had final say over personnel, however, Vermeil had the ability to follow the direction of Armey and other scouts, whereas, Mike Martz let his ego get in the way and that is what led to his demise. It's too bad that Armey was not given the final authority, but the Rams gave Martz similar power that Vermeil had and Martz battled that with forcing the selections of the likes of Trung Candidate and Travis Scott, but in fairness wanted Troy Polamalu too, but was talked out of it.
So in essence I do believe that McVay does not want to be totally involved in personnel, just having a say is fine, he spoke about enjoying the coaching aspect and the personnel side, he would leave to others understanding that aspect from his Grandfather who ran personnel under Bill Walsh I will take him at his word. Overall, I do believe down the line before the Rams move into their new palatial venue, there will be a new President of Football Operations and if the Rams showcase improvement, Snead will stay on, however, if not, somebody like Scot McCloughan is just waiting in the wings. Again it all comes down to if the Rams win, if they do, they could keep everything as is, if not, they will have a new President of Football Operations and have Demoff oversee other aspects of the operations and they will have a new General Manager as well, if the Wunderkind McVay can turn this thing around, they very well could keep the current hierarchy in place, but I do believe they will be focused on winning because ESK is putting far too much jack in the stadium and the great people in the City of Angels require a winner, but I don't believe it's anything more than that, but it is tinsel town.
