Tag: Chris Shula

Watch: Chris Shula mic’d up for first week of OTAs as Rams defensive coordinator

Chris Shula is in his first offseason as the Rams’ defensive coordinator and he was mic’d up during OTAs

After Raheem Morris was hired by the Atlanta Falcons as their new head coach, the Los Angeles Rams stayed in-house when it came to finding his replacement. They did interview outside candidates, but they ultimately landed on Chris Shula as their defensive coordinator. He’s in his first offseason as the team’s DC and he’s bringing the same energy that both Morris and Brandon Staley brought before him.

Shula was mic’d up for the Rams’ first week of OTAs, which showed a little bit of his coaching style on the field. Sean McVay and the front office think highly of Shula, the grandson of legendary coach Don Shula, and it’s easy to see why.

Take a look at the mic’d up video below.

Chris Shula: Kobie Turner’s versatility will ‘keep people guessing’

New Rams DC Chris Shula is excited to use Kobie Turner all over the defensive front, which will “keep people guessing”

When Aaron Donald was on the field, the Los Angeles Rams knew there was a very good chance he’d be double-teamed by the opposing offense. They’ll no longer have that luxury moving forward after Donald retired from football this offseason, but the Rams have someone else who will help fill the void left by No. 99: Kobie Turner.

While he may not get doubled as much as Donald, Turner is going to command a lot of attention along the defensive front. To counter that, the Rams plan to move him around the line in order to keep the opponent guessing.

“He’s going to be a guy who’s on the field a ton,” Chris Shula told FOX Sports. “We love to have the flexibility to move those guys around, depending on the personnel group that’s in the game. We’re lucky, because he can play multiple spots pretty easily, whether it’s physically or mentally.

“We can keep people guessing where we can kind of move him around. And the nice thing about Kobie is he’s so selfless, he’s always going to do what’s best for the team. So it will be fun to use that chess piece accordingly.”

Turner played both nose tackle and 3-technique last season, but 435 of his 695 snaps were over the B-gap as a defensive tackle, with 198 snaps coming as a nose tackle over the A-gap. With Donald gone, it’s reasonable to think Turner will play more 3-tech, but that’s also a position rookie Braden Fiske plays.

Turner’s ability to line up anywhere up front will give Shula a lot of options in his first year as a defensive coordinator, but he’s aware of the challenges that come with Donald being gone – like trying to diagnose how teams will set their protections against L.A.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to step up as a group,” Shula said. “We made a big point to Kobie Turner that we don’t expect him to be an Aaron Donald, because he really is one of one. We knew when he was in the game how offenses were going to protect against us. Now, it’s a little bit more of a guessing game.”

Rams continue to forge new defensive identity in 2024 NFL draft

Under new defensive coordinator Chris Shula, the Rams are forging a new defensive identity on that side of the ball, and it’s exciting to see

The 2024 NFL draft has officially concluded and on paper, early draft analyst grades are ranking the Rams’ 2024 haul amongst the best in the league. What we’ve learned over the course of the last 72 hours is this: The Rams defense is taking on a new identity. And frankly, it’s exciting.

The Rams made 10 selections over the course of the NFL draft, with five of the first six selections allocated to adding much-needed talent to the defensive side of the ball, filling glaring roster voids at outside linebacker, defensive line, and safety.

The selections of Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Kamren Kinchens, Brennan Jackson and Tyler Davis reveal similar traits between the five, and could be interpreted as a new defensive identity. This defense intends to inflict a relentlessness and physicality that could draw comparisons to famed Rams defenses of the past.

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It’s still unclear what wrinkles new defensive coordinator Chris Shula will fold into the Rams defensive scheme. He’s been a part of the Rams coaching staff since the beginning of the Sean McVay era and has served under prior coordinators Wade Phillips, Brandon Staley, and recently departed Raheem Morris.

One thing is clear, though: He has a plethora of young talent to galvanize into a formidable defensive unit. And the Rams fan base is excited to see how it materializes.

Rams hire former Eagles DC Sean Desai as a senior defensive assistant

The Los Angeles Rams are hiring Sean Desai as a senior defensive assistant after being fired by the Philadelphia Eagles

Sean Desai is headed west after losing his job with the Eagles, landing on Sean McVay’s Rams staff as a senior defensive assistant.

Chris Shula replaced the departed Raheem Morris, who landed the Atlanta Falcons head coaching job, and he’s bringing in Desai for a critical role.

One of Desai’s best performances as a defensive coordinator came in Week 5 against the Rams when Philadelphia’s defense sacked quarterback Matthew Stafford four times and held the Los Angeles Rams to under 60 yards rushing.

All-Pro pass rusher Haason Reddick logged two tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, and 2 QB hits in the win.

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New Rams DC Chris Shula doesn’t plan to overhaul the defense

Chris Shula isn’t going to overhaul the Rams defense as the new DC, keeping many of the “same structures”

Since Brandon Staley brought the Vic Fangio defense to the Los Angeles Rams in 2020, they’ve mostly kept the same 3-4 scheme for the last four years despite having two different defensive coordinators in that span. Chris Shula will now take over the defense from Raheem Morris and he doesn’t plan to reinvent the wheel.

Based on his comments this week, it sounds like he’s going to keep the same base scheme the Rams have deployed since 2020, using whatever system the players can execute “at a high level.”

“I think that’s a work in progress. There will definitely be elements to it. I think we’ll use a lot of the same structures. The same three-four structure and some of the same core beliefs, but it’s all about the players. We’re going to do whatever the players can execute at a high level where they can go out and play fast and play confident and whatever the offense gives us, we’ll be able to have answers to and they can go be the best versions of themselves.”

When it comes to what Shula’s defense is going to be about, it starts with effort, pursuit and tackling. He also wants his players to take the ball away to give the offense more opportunities to score, but he wants everyone pursuing the ball to ensure the ball carrier gets on the ground.

“To me, it’s a simple game,” he said. “It’s relentless pursuit of the ball, it’s getting off blocks, it’s tackling, and it’s taking the ball away and defense hasn’t changed over that over the course of time. That’s what this defense is going to be about. Now, we do want to keep an element where we want to have an identity, but we also want to have an element of unpredictability where we want to keep the offense guessing. But that’s all going to be within the realm of whatever our players can execute at the highest level and what they do best. It’s always going to be about the players and they are what is going to make this thing go.”

Rams promote Dolphins defensive coordinator candidate Chris Shula

Looks like Miami won’t have the opportunity to bring in another Shula.

The Miami Dolphins are continuing their search for the best option to be their next defensive coordinator after the team moved on from Vic Fangio after they were eliminated from the postseason.

One name who is no longer an option is Chris Shula, grandson of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula. The younger Shula was expected to get an interview with Miami, but on Thursday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Los Angeles Rams are promoting him to defensive coordinator, replacing Raheem Morris.

While it would’ve been a cool story to see another Shula coaching in South Florida, the Dolphins still have plenty of interesting candidates for their defensive coordinator role.

Keep up with the search using our defensive coordinator tracker.

Instant analysis of Rams hiring Chris Shula as defensive coordinator

Breaking down the Rams’ hiring of Chris Shula as their defensive coordinator

For the first time in his head coaching career, Sean McVay promoted an assistant coach to a coordinator position. That’s a surprising fact considering how frequently McVay’s assistants are poached by other teams around the NFL, but he typically hires outside candidates to be his coordinators. Not this time, though.

McVay and the Rams promoted linebackers coach and pass rush coordinator Chris Shula to defensive coordinator, replacing Raheem Morris. Shula has been with the Rams since McVay was hired in 2017, so he’s one of their longest-tenured coaches on the staff, making this a well-deserved promotion for the longtime assistant.

He’s waited his turn and coached several positions, and McVay is now rewarding him with the best opportunity of his career.

So what does this mean for the Rams? It could signify that they don’t want a ton to change on defense. They’ve deployed a Vic Fangio style of defense since Brandon Staley was the coordinator in 2020, and Morris didn’t shake things up dramatically when he was brought in before the 2021 season.

They continued to play a bunch of zone, didn’t blitz a ton and utilized a lot of two-deep and quarters coverages, thus limiting big plays over the top. That’s likely to continue with this in-house promotion of Shula, who worked under Morris for the last three years.

Had the Rams hired someone like Dennard Wilson of the Ravens, the defense likely would’ve looked different in 2024. Wilson would’ve brought a higher rate of blitzes and a more aggressive style of defense from the Ravens to the Rams compared to the, coming from Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme.

Shula was a somewhat unexpected hire by the Rams, but he keeps the status quo, and he also brings a lot of experience within the Rams’ building. In his seven seasons with Los Angeles, he’s coached the inside linebackers, outside linebackers and defensive backs. He’s also been the pass game coordinator and pass rush coordinator, so he’s been all over the defense for McVay.

Having learned under Wade Phillips, Staley and Morris, Shula should have a good grasp of what the Rams want to be on defense, and he’s taken pieces from Phillips’ scheme, as well as those deployed by Staley and Morris.

This was likely a low-risk hire by the Rams, staying in-house and promoting one of their longest-tenured assistants.

Rams promoting LBs coach Chris Shula to defensive coordinator

The Rams have found their replacement for Raheem Morris, promoting Chris Shula from LBs coach to defensive coordinator

The Los Angeles Rams have found their replacement for Raheem Morris. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Rams are promoting linebackers coach/pass rush coordinator Chris Shula to defensive coordinator.

Shula has been with the Rams since 2017 and is one of their longest-tenured coaches, so he has plenty of experience working alongside Sean McVay.

Shula was one of two in-house candidates for the defensive coordinator position, along with DBs coach Aubrey Pleasant. This will be his first opportunity to be a defensive coordinator at the NFL level, though he also held that title in college at John Carroll.

Shula, 37, is the grandson of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula.

The Rams lost Morris to the Falcons, who hired him as their new head coach. He spent the last three years as Los Angeles’ defensive coordinator.

Dolphins interviewing Chris Shula, grandson of Don Shula, for defensive coordinator

Miami to interview the grandson of their legendary former coach.

The Miami Dolphins are continuing to have a busy week with interviews left and right for their defensive coordinator position, which is empty after the team parted ways with Vic Fangio after just one season.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Dolphins have added a candidate for the position with a familiar last name –  Chris Shula.

Shula, 37, is the grandson of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula, who coached Miami from 1970-95 and led the team to two Super Bowls.

The younger Shula has been coaching in the NFL since he joined the San Diego Chargers coaching staff as defensive quality control coach. He’s been with the Los Angeles Rams since 2017, and this past year he took over as the team’s pass rush coordinator and linebackers coach.

Shula joins  Anthony Weaver, Leslie Frazier, Ryan Slowik, Anthony Campanile, Brandon Staley and Chris Kiffin as candidates for the position in Miami Gardens.

Dolphins interviewing Rams LBs coach Chris Shula for defensive coordinator job

The Dolphins are taking a look at Rams LBs coach Chris Shula for their defensive coordinator vacancy

The Miami Dolphins have joined the fun of interviewing Rams assistants for open coordinator positions. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Dolphins are interviewing Rams LBs coach/pass rush coordinator Chris Shula for their defensive coordinator job.

As Pelissero notes, Shula is the grandson of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula, so this would be a familiar name for the organization. Chris Shula is also up for the Rams’ defensive coordinator job, interviewing for it this week.

Shula, 37, has been with the Rams since 2017, coaching everything from the inside linebackers to the outside linebackers to the defensive backs. He previously coached with the Chargers as a defensive quality control coach from 2015-2016 before joining Sean McVay’s staff with the Rams.