The Los Angeles Rams made several major changes to their coaching staff this offseason, bringing in three new faces to fill the coordinator jobs on offense, defense and special teams.
On Wednesday, Sean McVay introduced offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley and special teams coordinator John Bonamego at a press conference, fielding questions from reporters in attendance.
He and the coordinators were asked about potential changes coming schematically, roles of the new coaches and what sold McVay on them as candidates for the jobs.
Here are six things we learned from the press conference.
Rams will stay in base 3-4 scheme
One of the biggest questions when the Rams replaced Wade Phillips with Staley was whether they’d switch to a 4-3 front. Staley coached a 3-4 defense under Vic Fangio in Chicago and Denver, and that will seemingly continue in 2020.
Staley said there will be a lot of carryover from last year’s Rams defense, indicating that their base scheme will remain a 3-4.
“A lot of it’s predicated on the players, but structurally, our system – from a personnel standpoint – there will be a lot of carryover,” Staley said. “With Vic, we’ve been a 3-4 structure, but we’ve played a lot of different groupings. As an offense or a defense, you’ve got to have a framework of where you’re guys are going to meet, so I think that’s going to be the comforting thing for our players. They’re going to be performing a lot of the same jobs, a lot of the same roles. There’s none of those wholesale changes that happen other places.”
O’Connell will serve as the QBs coach, too
Shane Waldron served as the Rams’ quarterbacks coach last season after Zac Taylor was hired by the Bengals. He’ll no longer have that responsibility, with it instead falling on O’Connell. The new offensive coordinator will also be the quarterbacks coach, McVay said, with Liam Cohen and Waldron helping out in the QB room.
“In a lot of instances, Kevin will assume those roles, working with those guys,” McVay said. “But whether it’s Liam Cohen that’ll be in that room, Shane will still have some interaction. But ultimately, Kevin will take on the typical responsibilities of a quarterbacks coach, very similar to what Matt had done a couple years ago.”
Staley familiar with Donald’s, Ramsey’s backgrounds
Staley hasn’t yet met with Aaron Donald because the All-Pro is back in Pittsburgh with his family in the early part of the offseason, but he’s begun meeting with players and talking to them about the upcoming season. He’s talked to Donald on the phone and is very familiar with his background, dating back to his high school days.
“My twin brother lives in Pittsburgh and I’m from Cleveland, so we kind of share that background,” Staley said. “I know a lot of his high school coaches, kind of know his story, growing up from Penn Hills, and I think that’s kind of exciting for me because when you talk to people at Penn Hills, they talk about the 17-year-old Aaron Donald, not the NFL MVP. So I kind of have a background on him.”
Staley’s knowledge of Jalen Ramsey’s background isn’t quite as in-depth, but he’s friends with some of his coaches from Florida State, so they’ve connected on that level.
“Jalen Ramsey, I’m really good friends with some of his college coaches at Florida State, so I was able to get a head start with him,” he said.
Word of mouth helped sell McVay on Staley
Staley wasn’t a very recognizable name when the Rams announced him as their new defensive coordinator, being an outside linebackers coach for the last three years under Vic Fangio. While he may not have the experience of Wade Phillips or the allure of someone like Kris Richard, the recommendations McVay got about Staley helped sell him on the decision.
Fangio spoke highly of Staley, as did others in the coaching circle that McVay talked to.
“It’s a small network of coaches and when you talk to people that you really value their input and they’re not going to say things about people unless they genuinely believe it. You hear the word of mouth references, there’s some similar people that I hold in high regard when they give an opinion on somebody,” McVay said. “And then you meet him. Did a great job there, but I think when you look at the system, especially with the success that a Vic Fangio-led defense has had over the course of an elongated period of time and Vic is a coach that I really respect, hold in high regard. And when you listen to the things he says about Brandon Staley, when you listen to the people that I’ve come in close contact with that have been around him. When you look at the background, it’s impressive.”
Bonamego remembers scouting Johnny Hekker before 2012 draft
Bonamego has coached for several teams across the NFL, including two stints with the Jaguars. His second came in 2012, and that year as the special teams coordinator, he remembered watching and meeting with a punter out of Oregon State by the name of Johnny Hekker.
The Jaguars instead drafted Bryan Anger in the third round, but Bonamego is familiar with Hekker’s game and remembers conversations he had with him.
“I’ve already done my homework on those guys. A lot of those guys I looked at coming out of the draft,” Bonamego said. “I had a pretty good relationship with Johnny before he signed here. I was in Jacksonville at the time and took a kid by the name of Bryan Anger instead, but I remember those conversations.
“Those guys are like any other position – they want to be coached, they want to get better. And it’s really working with them and establishing a rapport and routine and learning what they can do and what they do well and try to keep them out of situations that are asking them to do things that they don’t do well. So the number one takeaway there is communication.”
Rams have yet to hire a replacement for Ted Rath
Rath left the Rams this offseason to take a job with the Eagles, and the Rams have yet to replace him on the strength and conditioning staff. McVay said the team is gathering candidates and hopes to have someone hired within the next month.
“We’re in the process of accumulating those names, so we have not hired that position,” McVay said. “We have some really qualified candidates that we’ll be bringing in, we’ll talk to some guys at the end of this week. and starting next week, we’ll really get into that. I’d like to say hopefully after that combine, or if you meet somebody before, in the next month, you’d like to be able to finalize that decision.”
