Brandon Staley joined the Rams as their new defensive coordinator this past offseason, replacing the great Wade Phillips. He inherited a defense that boasted the likes of Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Michael Brockers and John Johnson, and also helped recruit Leonard Floyd from the Bears to L.A.
The result? Only the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense, ranking second in the league in sacks and allowing the fewest passing yards in football. Staley’s rapid ascent has been remarkable to watch, especially considering he had never been a defensive coordinator or play caller before this season.
But as great as Staley has been for the Rams, his stay might be brief – as in, just one year. Staley has already gotten requests to interview for the head coaching jobs with the Jets and Jaguars, opening the door for him to advance his career in a huge way for the second straight year.
Those interviews can’t be held until the Rams’ season ends, and so Staley isn’t focused on the next step just yet. His mind is on the Seahawks, who Los Angeles will face on Saturday in the wild-card round.
“Well, I think that you take care of what’s in front of you first, and what’s in front of us is the Seattle Seahawks for the third time,” he said Tuesday. “I think that that’s where you have to start and finish your day. That is the biggest thing on our minds right now is to be able to compete in this game to the best of our abilities. It takes so much preparation to face a team like this, let alone for the third time with all their great coaches and players. As you guys know, playing in the same division as these guys, you know how good that team is, and we were just there a few weeks back. So, that’s where it really begins.”
This isn’t to say Staley won’t prepare for the biggest interviews of his life. He knows how important those meetings will be, but they’re secondary to the task at hand, which is trying to beat the Seahawks and extend the Rams’ season – even at the cost of pushing back these two interviews.
He doesn’t expect to spend much time thinking about the Jets and Jaguars while the Rams are still fighting to win a Super Bowl.
“As for the other stuff, now, I’ve been preparing my whole life for opportunities like that, so it’s not like there’s (only) a few days that you’re going to get ready for something,” he said. “It’s just that those things will take care of themselves to be very honest. It’s not going to be something that takes a lot of time from me.”
What makes Staley such a strong candidate is not only his football intelligence, but his relationship with players and coaches. It’s something Sean McVay has raved about throughout the year, recognizing his ability to connect and lead on and off the field.
So naturally, Staley deflected praise to the Rams’ players and assistant coaches, specifically highlighting three minority coaches who would be excellent candidates to advance their careers this year.
“You guys are aware of the minority coaching situation in this league. We have three guys on our staff, (safeties coach) Ejiro Evero, (D-line coach) Eric Henderson and (CBs coach) Aubrey Pleasant, who are as good as you’re going to find anywhere,” Staley said. “If they think that we’re doing something special on defense, well, you can look no further than those guys. Joe Barry, who’s our assistant head coach, who’s been a defensive coordinator who will be one again. (Defensive quality control) Jonathan Cooley, (assistant D-line coach) Thad Bogardus, and Chris Shula. It’s about all of us and I say that because I mean, it. Good opportunities happen for players, coaches, all of us, in your line of work, because of the people that you’re with. I’m excited for all of us.”
McVay is no stranger to losing assistant coaches, seeing Matt LaFleur, Zac Taylor, Greg Olson and several others leave in recent years. Staley could very well be the next to advance his career, and as much as that would hurt the Rams, it would be yet another example of the organization recognizing great talent and helping them grow professionally.