AP

From time to time in this business, members of the media are told something but asked to present that something not as a “report,” but as their own idea. It gives the member of the media a chance to appear prescient and ahead of the curve, and it gives the source a way to float a trial balloon, or to at least ensure that if/when that something occurs, it won’t be appearing completely out of nowhere.

A theory advanced by Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch regarding the future of the NFL in St. Louis and Los Angeles feels like one of those “here’s what could happen, but present this as your own idea” moments.

Miklasz speculates that Rams owner Stan Kroenke could sell the team to someone who would keep it in a new St. Louis stadium, buy the Raiders from Mark Davis, and move the Raiders to Los Angeles. Alternatively, Miklasz suggests that the NFL will allow Kroenke to move the Rams to Los Angeles, and that the NFL would then nudge the Raiders to St. Louis.

The latter option seems to be more likely, since Davis has shown no inclination to sell the Raiders. But Oakland doesn’t seem like a viable long-term home for the team. If Los Angeles isn’t an option, why not move to the new stadium that Missouri currently is scrambling to propose to the Rams?

“Normally I’d laugh at this kind of stuff — but not this time,” Miklasz writes of the two possible scenarios. “If [Dave] Peacock and [Bob] Blitz complete their stadium mission, then multiple options will likely be in play. And some of those options may seem crazy to you. But it’s not as much of a fantasy as you’d think.”

In other words, someone has told Miklasz what may happen, but that someone has told Miklasz to present it as his own idea. And Miklasz has dropped enough of a hint to suggest that this is something more informed that spitballing.