It was an offseason of change for Sean McVay and the Rams’ coaching staff, seeing seven members leave for one reason or another. Among the coaches to leave the Rams in the last month or so were Brandon Staley, Joe Barry, Aubrey Pleasant and Aaron Kromer.
McVay had the difficult task of filling those voids on the coaching staff, but he used a mix of new hires and internal promotions to get it done. He brought in Raheem Morris and Kevin Carberry to replace Staley and Kromer, while Chris Shula was promoted to linebackers coach and Ejiro Evero will take over as the secondary coach.
Reflecting on the new-look staff, McVay sees good balance between new and old faces in L.A. McVay said he values new perspectives when assembling a coaching staff and “it’s something that you think about a lot.”
“Some of these new faces in here will provide tremendous value, in addition to the guys that are continuing to grow from within,” he told reporters last week. “I think when you look at it with where our staff’s at with the guys that we do have, I think it’s a great balance. I really am truly excited about watching that collaboration, watching the connection of those guys unfold, because if you get the coaches, the camaraderie, the connection is right, then most importantly, those players, they feel that. If we’re all on the same page, we’re going in the right direction, we’re able to establish the right rhythm and routine and processes and standards with how we prepare, how we practice and then ultimately how we perform.”
The Rams have the talent to be a Super Bowl contender, especially with the arrival of Matthew Stafford in a few weeks. And while the losses of Staley, Kromer and the other coaches will hurt, the staff McVay has assembled is filled with experienced coaches, as well as ones who could become head-coaching candidates down the line sometime.
Free agency will be a challenge for the cap-strapped Rams, but McVay feels good about how they’ve done in the offseason so far.
“I feel really good about what we can control up to this point,” he said. “I think it’s going to be absolute bananas when the league year starts, watching how everybody kind of figures this thing out with what the salary cap ends up being and try to put together the most competitive roster that we can to work with these coaches, or really the coaches to work with these players is the most important.”
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