"He apologized profusely," Herman said of McKenzie. "I shared my displeasure in very strong terms. Jared and I were sitting there in disbelief. We got out of the building and we got back to the hotel."

The Rams hadn't gone down easily last Sunday after learning Saffold was signing elsewhere. Herman said that coach Jeff Fisher, general manager Les Snead, and even linebacker James Laurinaitis had called Saffold to try to get him to change his mind.

After it all unraveled in Oakland, the Rams moved in to fill the void Wednesday night.

"We put together a deal that would be more than satisfactory to Rodger," Herman said. "And now all we want to do is finish it."

As Herman spoke in a phone interview, he and Fox were heading for the airport at about midnight Central time to fly back to St. Louis.

Saffold and his parents were scheduled to fly to St. Louis early Thursday morning, with Demoff himself making the flight arrangements Wednesday night according to Herman.

Herman was confident a contract would be signed by sometime Thursday afternoon.