Todd Bowles is on Rams’ radar

The search for a general manager began in earnest on Day 3 ofthe Rams’ offseason, and their search for a new head coachbroadened beyond Jeff Fisher.

On the general manager front, the Rams received permission tointerview Les Snead of Atlanta and Baltimore’s Eric DeCosta toreplace the deposed Billy Devaney.

In terms of a new head coach, the Rams have expressed interestin Todd Bowles of the Miami Dolphins to replace Steve Spagnuolo,but they haven’t as yet sent out a formal request to interviewBowles.

Bowles, 48, served as interim head coach in Miami for the finalthree games of this season after the dismissal of Tony Sparano. TheDolphins responded well in those games by going 2-1 with victoriesover the new York Jets and Buffalo, and with a near-upset of NewEngland in a 27-24 loss.

Bowles is a native of Elizabeth, N.J., who went to college atTemple and has been with the Dolphins since 2008 as assistant headcoach/secondary coach. He had previous NFL coaching stints as anassistant for the Jets (2000), Cleveland (2001-04), and Dallas(2005-07) and has three years coaching experience at the collegelevel as well.

During an eight-year playing career as a defensive back, Bowlesappeared in 117 games with 20 starts with Washington and SanFrancisco from 1986-93. He recorded 15 career interceptions.

At the general manager level, the Rams are farther along in thesense that they already have requested and received permission tointerview Snead and DeCosta. Both have the title of director ofplayer personnel with their current teams.

Snead, 37, played tight end at Auburn, and for a whileconsidered attending medical school before becoming a graduateassistant coach there. Then-Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin wasimpressed with Snead during a campus trip and hired him as aJaguars scout in 1995. Snead has been with the Falcons since 1997,surviving several regime changes and four head coaches in theprocess, and once working under Devaney â€" whom he could replace inSt. Louis.

Currently the No. 2 man in Atlanta under general manager ThomasDimitroff, Snead has played a key role in organizing the Falcons’draft board the last couple of years. He is involved with bothcollege and pro personnel in his current duties with Atlanta.

DeCosta, 41, has been with the Ravens since 1996, theirinaugural season in Baltimore. He was promoted to director ofcollege scouting in 2003 and director of player personnel in 2009.Baltimore has had a reputation as one of the NFL’s best-draftingteams for more than a decade and DeCosta obviously has had a handin that success.

He is widely regarded as the heir apparent in Baltimore toRavens executive vice president/general manager Ozzie Newsome, sohe may be tough to get out of the Ravens’ front office.

Spagnuolo hasn’t spoken to the media since being fired Mondaymorning, but league sources told the Post-Dispatch that he remainsinterested in coaching in 2012 and could have severalopportunities.

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