HBO Hard Knocks 2014: Rams ‘unlikely’ to be on show
By Josh Sanchez
The St. Louis Rams avoided one reality show when seventh-round pick Michael Sam decided to put his documentary series that was to air on Oprah’s OWN network on hold, and head coach Jeff Fisher expects them to dodge yet another bullet when it comes to having cameras around the team.
St. Louis is one of a handful of teams that could be forced to do HBO’s Hard Knocks for the upcoming season, but Fisher doesn’t seem to believe the league will be asking them to participate.
“I think it’s unlikely,” Fisher told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We are eligible, but I think it’s highly unlikely they’d ask us to do it. I think this organization has a right to go through training camp with some normalcy.”
The NFL put in some rules that allows them to force any team who hasn’t been on the show in the last 10 years, missed the playoffs in the last two seasons and doesn’t have a first-year head coach. The Rams qualify, but so do seven other teams.
If Fisher is right in saying that the Rams are “unlikely” to be on the show, that would leave the Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, and Pittsburgh Steelers as options.
There is currently no timetable for when the league will be announcing the next team that will be participating on the show and having cameras follow them around for the 2014 training camp, but we should be getting an answer sooner rather than later so the team can prepare for what is to come.