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Will Washburn join Fisher?

    by Sheil Kapadia
    Published 

Jeff Fisher made his decision Friday and will take over control of the St. Louis Rams.

That means not only being the team's new head coach, but also having final say on personnel matters, according to reports. One of Fisher's first orders of business will be getting his staff in order.

According to SI.com's Peter King, Fisher is expected to make Gregg Williams his defensive coordinator. Williams is currently Sean Payton's defensive coordinator in New Orleans, but the Saints do not need to give him permission to make a lateral move because Williams is in the final year of his contract.

Williams spent four seasons as defensive coordinator of the Titans under Fisher, from 1997-2000. In 1999 and 2000, Jim Washburn was Williams' defensive line coach. The Titans ranked 20th in overall defense in '99, according to Football Outsiders and allowed 20.2 points per game (15th). But Tennessee did have 54 sacks, which ranked third.

In 2000, the Titans had the top-ranked defense in the NFL, per Football Outsiders. They were second in the league in scoring defense, allowing just 11.9 points per game and had 55 sacks (tied for second).

So the question now, as it relates to the Eagles, is this: Will Fisher and Williams want Washburn to join them in St. Louis?

Of course, there are a lot of factors to consider here. First, the Eagles have to decide what they're doing at defensive coordinator. If they add Steve Spagnuolo, will his plans for the defense mesh with what Washburn likes to do up front? If Castillo's running the defense, holding on to Washburn seems like a no-brainer.

And Washburn's opinion counts too. He's under contract with the Eagles, but the team could grant him permission to move on to the Rams if that's what he wants to do. Then again, Washburn is close with offensive line coach Howard Mudd and had a successful season here with Trent Cole, Jason Babin, Cullen Jenkins and company.

Those are some of the factors to keep in mind as the NFL coaching carousel continues.

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