Tag: Chris Shula

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.”

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.