From a Division III coach to an NFL outside linebackers coach to a defensive coordinator in a matter of five years, Brandon Staley earned the respect of the players that he helped maximize throughout that time.
The player that had the highest praise for Staley was cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey isn’t the easiest person to please, but the All-Pro raved about his abilities as a coach, leader and strategist.
“I just think he’s great at what he does. He’s smart, he knows (how) to put his players in positions to make plays and affect games. He knows how to get the best out of people, he knows how to calm people down, keep us going throughout the games,” Ramsey said.
“He’s about ball. But at the same time he’s a player’s coach.”
Staley took over for the legendary Wade Phillips, who was let go of the season prior. He kept the same defense, but added his own wrinkles to it. The result? The No. 1 defense in the NFL.
“We’re playing consistent football in his defense,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said.
While Staley got the most out of arguably the Rams’ best defensive players, he helped a few less notables become household names, including linebacker Leonard Floyd, cornerbacks Troy Hill, Darious Williams and safeties Jordan Fuller and John Johnson.
“The dude’s a genius,” Williams said.
“I like his energy. It’s kinda like a McVay of the defense almost, the way he talks and how smart he is. I feel like that’s what I needed. We’re feeding off it, and I feel it, just seeing how in tune the players are with him,” Hill said.
“He’s always studying,” Johnson said. “He’ll shoot me a text at a random time of the day about something not even important — just about football, something that he saw.”
Along the way of his uprise to where he is now, Staley also worked with the likes of Bears’ Khalil Mack and Broncos’ Von Miller and Bradley Chubb.
“It was just the energy he brought to the meetings, how he approached it,” Chubb said. “You could just tell the aura he had about himself. One of the best dudes I know personally.”
Chubb knew that Staley had the makings of an NFL head coach.
“Can’t wait to see you become a head coach one day,” Chubb wrote on a jersey at the request of Staley’s wife, Amy, for his man cave.
Chubb wasn’t the only one who knew he was destined to be a head coach in this league, though. Ramsey knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep Staley as his defensive coordinator for long.
“Selfishly, I would love to have Coach Staley for obviously the rest of this year and next year and my career here,” Ramsey said. “But, I mean, he would be a great head coach, and there’s a lot of teams in the league right now who could use him.”