Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley has enjoyed a rather quick rise to stardom so early in his coaching career.
The hiring of Staley seemingly came out of left field given his lack of experience as an NFL coach. It has since been well-noted that his biggest claim to fame was as the linebackers coach for Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio last season as well as with the Chicago Bears the previous two seasons, where Fangio was the defensive coordinator.
Fangio led quite the resurgence with Bears and was ultimately given a shot to run his own team in Denver last year. He has already started to establish a coaching tree of his own now that one of his assistants landed such a high-profile gig in Los Angeles.
Staley admired Fangio’s ability to teach players and he is hoping to bring that same aspect to the Rams, via Stu Jackson of the team’s official website:
“You got to think about being a great teacher for your players, and I think that’s something that Vic is exceptional at,” Staley said. “To be a defensive coordinator in the NFL for over 20 years and to do it at the level he’s been able to do it at and now as a head coach, to have that type of consistency, you have to be a really good teacher, you have to be a really good communicator. You have to be someone that people believe in, you know, as a leader.”
Staley added that the current personnel in Los Angeles should not expect too many significant changes from the job they have been doing in recent years:
“The roles and responsibilities of a lot of the guys is going to remain the same, just, schematically, and maybe fundamentally, situationally, there’ll be some some new things for them,” Staley said. “But in terms of the jobs that they’re going to be doing, they’re going to be doing the same job. So I think that gives the players a lot of confidence to know that, ‘Hey, I’m going to be performing the same role. Just maybe a little bit different.’”
Staley’s comments indicate that he is not planning to stray too far from the 3-4 scheme that Wade Phillips has ushered in over the last three seasons. This should help to avoid any complications the players may have with getting adjusted completely by the time the 2020 NFL Season rolls around.
Although his time in the NFL has been brief, Staley has already gotten to work with some of the most notable defensive groups in the league with the Broncos and Bears. His experience coaching premier pass rushers like Khalil Mack and Von Miller should help pay huge dividends for defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
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