The Los Angeles Rams have found their replacement for Brandon Staley. After Staley was hired to be the Los Angeles Chargers’ head coach, the Rams announced on Thursday Raheem Morris was their new defensive coordinator.
He is their third DC in the last three seasons. Wade Phillips held the job from 2017-2019 and was replaced by Staley in 2020. Staley led the Rams to have the No. 1 defense in the NFL and then was hired by the Chargers to be their head coach.
Now it is Morris, who was the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator in 2020. He was also the interim head coach for Atlanta after Dan Quinn was fired.
Atlanta went 4-7 holding down the interim job.
Morris’ NFL coaching experience dates back to 2002 and he has been a position coach on both offense and defense. However, he has only been an NFL defensive coordinator once — last season.
The L.A. defense might look quite different in 2021. Wade Phillips ran an attacking 3-4 defense similar to what the Arizona Cardinals run under Vance Joseph, who is a Wade Phillips disciple. Staley was groomed by Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, running a 3-4 base defense.
Morris’ defense in Atlanta had a four-man front. The Rams certainly have the talent to be dominant in any scheme, but there could be some growing pains early on and the scheme probably will look different.
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