B. Fisher leaves Rams for Seahawks
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/15/2005
Rams defensive end Bryce Fisher sacks Arizona QB Josh McCown in the 2004 season opener.
( Robert Cohen/P-D)
Defensive end Bryce Fisher, the Rams’ sack leader in 2004, is headed to the Seattle Seahawks. Fisher agreed to terms Tuesday on a four-year deal with the Seahawks worth $10 million.
It will be a homecoming for Fisher, 27, a native of Renton, Wash., who attended Seattle Prep High.
“I get to go home, so I’m excited about that,” Fisher said Tuesday afternoon. “I get a chance to play in front of the home fans every week.”
But Fisher also expressed some disappointment that the Rams didn’t make a contract offer.
“I’d been in contact with the Rams coaching staff and told them that I think Seattle’s going to make me an offer, and that if they make me an offer I’m probably going to take it,” Fisher said.
But the Rams have made a commitment to Anthony Hargrove as their starting right end in 2005. They were interested in re-signing Fisher only as their No. 3 defensive end -- and at No. 3 defensive end prices.
Fisher wanted a chance to be a starter, and be paid like a starter, an opportunity he will get in Seattle.
So now, when the Rams play Seattle twice a year in what has become an intense and entertaining NFC West rivalry, they will face former Rams at both defensive end positions for the Seahawks: Fisher and Grant Wistrom.
After being released by Buffalo at the end of the 2002 preseason, Fisher revived his career with the Rams. He appeared in only four games for St. Louis in ’02, but became a regular part of the defensive line rotation in ’03, finishing with 47 tackles and two sacks.
When Wistrom signed a free-agent deal with Seattle following the ’03 season, Fisher took over for him in the starting lineup in St. Louis. Fisher started the first 14 games of the ’04 campaign before giving way to Hargrove in the starting lineup.
He finished the season with a team-high 8½ sacks and was seventh on the team in tackles
