Hiring Softli Great Move for Rams

Since the 2001 season, the St. Louis Rams were the only franchise that didn't have a pro personnel director in the front office. The results have been obvious.

The Rams, once billed as the 'Greatest Show on Turf' have been a shadow of their former selves. Bad drafts, lousy free agent pickups and a tumultuous relationship between Mike Martz and the front office saw the inevitable dismissal of Mad Mike as head coach after the 2005 season.

Enter new head coach Scott Linehan and with his arrival, it appears that the front office and the head coach are on the same page. Linehan, along with Jay Zygmunt, head of football operations, agreed that a pro personnel director was needed and on Tuesday that position was filled by Tony Softli.

Softli is the perfect choice for the Rams and one that may bring them back into playoff contention very soon. Softli was director of college scouting for the Carolina Panthers since the 2000 season and is known around the NFL as being a solid talent evaluator.

He is credited for drafting Julius Peppers, Steve Smith and Kris Jenkins. Softli even developed his own player evaluation software that he used in Carolina. He will create his own in St. Louis. The Rams were starving for a pro personnel head and now maybe stability will be the buzzword in the St.Louis front office.

Charlie Armey loses his GM title, there will be no general manager position anymore, but he decided to stay on as vice president of pro personnel. Armey, 67, has one year left on his contract and may retire after the season. Former Ram great Lawrence McCutcheon will continue as director of college scouting.

That's a pretty good lineup of talent scouts the Rams have. Armey is an experienced veteran who helped bring a championship to St. Louis in 1999. Since McCutcheon took over as college scouting director, the Rams have done a better job in the draft. Throw Linehan into that mix and that makes a potent lineup for Rams fans.

Softli of course is excited to get going and it appears he has a good relationship with Armey and that's a definite plus. In the Martz era, there was division throughout Rams Park with some taking sides with Martz, while others were with the Armey-Zygmunt faction.

"I'm ecstatic," Softli told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. "I'm leaving a great organization to come to another with a lot of history. This gives me a chance to run both the college and pro sides of a department. It gives me a chance to work with Jay. With his knowledge of the salary cap, he has a lot to teach me."

Softli has worked for the Panthers since 1995, first as a scout in the Southwest, where he met Armey.

"He helped me out a lot as a young scout," Softli said. "He took me under his wing, and I've admired him from afar."

Softli, 46, has ties to Linehan through the University of Washington, where the two worked together in 1994. Linehan was receivers coach, Softli a graduate assistant.

"We got along well then, and I think we laid the groundwork for a good working relationship," Softli said.

Carolina has become a major power in the NFL in this decade, going to the Super Bowl in 2003 and reaching the NFL Championship game last season. Softli has been a major part of the Panthers success and now the Rams faithful hope he can work that same magic in St. Louis.

Only time will tell, but if past success is any indication, Tony Softli and the St. Louis Rams have a future so bright, they've got to wear shades.

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