When I would turn the fan on,? It was spinning and articulating against the heater coil, and eventually the fan burnt out. One gear at a time. First, the speed 4 quit working, then the speed 3 quit, and so on and so forth... My question is; does this indicate that the blower motor needs to be replaced? Or would it be something in between the switch and the motor? I dont want to spend the money on a new motor if it could be something else....

So looks like you've pinpointed the cause. Your fan is rubbing against the something - causing extra load to the fan motor; which in turn overloaded the final stage resistor.

You'll of course need to move the motor so it can move freely. Then change out the final stage resistor.

Usually, when the speeds go out one at a time, it indicates a bad fan resistor...the resistor is mounted in the heater ductwork by the fan and is used in conjunction with the fan speed switch on the dash to control the fan speeds. It has 4-5 wires going to it and has 3 or 4 coiled wires on the back side of it that act as resistors to limit fan speeds. Check a service manual or dealer for the exact location of it.