Why the Rams haven't signed Janoris Jenkins yet

According to Jason Cole at Yahoo Sports, the Rams are at a crossroads with Janoris Jenkins because he hasn't followed through with a financial adviser head coach Jeff Fisher insisted he hire. Fisher wants Jenkins to work with Lou Taylor of Brentwood, Tennessee-based Tri Star Sports and Entertainment. Ms. Taylor has managed Fisher's money in the past. More awesomely, she has also had Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan as past clients. (Lohan fired her last year.)

Jenkins worked with a financial adviser in Florida on his own prior to the draft to get his current child-support situation sorted out. He currently has four children with three women, and now has a fourth claiming he is also the father of her child. So you can see where Fisher is coming from. With significant off-the-field distractions, Jenkins could definitely use a full-time manager to keep his family and finances organized, and he can concentrate on covering receivers during the season. Taylor's role would be to handle Jenkins' child-support payments, put him on a budget, and maybe buy him a damn box of Trojans before he catches up with Antonio Cromartie.

But here comes the problem. The CBA doesn't allow teams to require a player to hire a financial adviser at all as a condition of their contract, let alone a specific person. Jenkins is said to be balking at Taylor's fee ($120,000 for four years). I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't like the budget plan drawn up for him, either. The Rams are said to be concerned that Jenkins has got a bunch of people in his ear and don't think he'll be managed effectively by his current mentor and adviser. You can kind of see the way the Rams are already afraid Jenkins will be headed.

But that doesn't mean that Fisher hasn't well overstepped by trying to tell Jenkins exactly where to put his money. Obviously I don't have all the details, but the Yahoo report says the adviser Jenkins worked with previously in Florida is with Merrill Lynch; why not try to work together with him instead of trying to cram Fisher's personal money manager down Jenkins' throat?

The Rams can only pay Jenkins; they can't tell him where and how to spend his money any more than your employer or mine can order us. It appears the Rams trust Jenkins' judgment so little, despite all those reassurances you heard out of Rams Park in the days after the draft, that they'd try to violate the CBA to try to make sure he stays in line. That was kind of the price of drafting him, though, wasn't it?

Maybe this is all a negotiating ploy on the Rams' part to make sure Jenkins hires somebody reputable. They have to, and should, drop the condition that Jenkins hire Taylor immediately. For his part, Jenkins needs to show the good judgment his team doesn't believe he has and get on board with a full-time money manager on his own.

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Photo: Associated Press