Will 2026 be the year the Rams manage a top 5 offense and defense?
Entering his 10th NFL season as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams , Sean McVay has been the gold standard for culture building, player development, in-game schematics, and coaching discipleship. 2026 will feature his 5th offensive coordinator, 4th defensive coordinator, and 5th special teams coordinator. Sean McVay has remained the architect of the offense, although his recent hires have given interesting wrinkles and personnel packaging compared to the early years. The defense saw a drastic change from 2019 into the 2020 decade. While the special teams has never recovered since the days of John Fassel. Here’s a look down memory lane of the staffs that Sean McVay has formed year after year. Fresh off of being hired at age 30, McVay targeted legendary coach, Wade Phillips to be his defensive mastermind. His recruiting pitch worked and Phillips began to unleash the full potential of Aaron Donald and company. McVay also secured the services of former colleague Matt LaFleur, whom he worked with in Washington. Rams offense: 1st of 32 (29.9 ppg) Rams defense: 12th of 32 (20.6 ppg against) Within one year, McVay already lost pieces of his staff. Matt LaFleur left Los Angeles for the Tennessee Titans . His quarterbacks coach, Greg Olson , parted for the Oakland Raiders to join Jon Gruden. Zac Taylor slid into the role of quarterbacks coach while the Rams opted to work without an official offensive coordinator. Shane Waldron was also promoted to passing game coordinator. Rams offense: 2nd of 32 (32.9 ppg) Rams defense: 20th of 32 (24.0 ppg against) Once again, McVay opted to navigate the season without an official offensive coordinator but the Rams experienced significant regression off of their Super Bowl run. A lot of that was due to Todd Gurley ’s chronic knee injury and Jared Goff’s rise in turnovers. McVay also lost Zac Taylor to the Cincinnati Bengals . Rams offense: 11th of 32 (24.6 ppg) Rams defense: 17th of 32 (22.8 ppg against) After seeing the Vic Fangio defense limit his offense over the past year and a half, McVay opted to hire a disciple of Fangio’s, Brandon Staley. With Wade Phillips contract expired, McVay made the switch at defensive coordinator. Using his ties to Jay Gruden, McVay poached Kevin O’Connell from the Washington Redskins , giving himself a sounding board in the offensive room. Rams offense: 22nd of 32 (23.3 ppg) Rams defense: 1st of 32 (18.5 ppg against) The staff’s full potential was unleashed with the acquisition of Matthew Stafford . Jared Goff was identified as the weak link within the offense and Sean McVay and Kevin O’Connell immediately course-corrected the offense under Stafford. Brandon Staley departed after one year for the Los Angeles Chargers head coaching job. Raheem Morris, another former colleague during McVay’s Washington years, became the new DC. Rams offense: 7th of 32 (27.1 ppg) Rams defense: 15th of 32 (21.9 ppg against) Kevin O’Connell was poached by the Minnesota Vikings after Super Bowl LVI. After serving on McVay’s staff from 2018-2020, Liam Coen became the new offensive coordinator. The season was largely derailed by injuries however the Rams offensive play design surprisingly lacked a lot of creativity. Matthew Stafford’s offseason elbow injury might have been the factor in that. Rams offense: 27th of 32 (18.1 ppg) Rams defense: 21st of 32 (22.6 ppg against) After questioning his own future, Sean McVay did return for year 7. Liam Coen went back to the University of Kentucky. This prompted McVay to hire Mike LaFleur, who had been let go from the New York Jets . LaFleur’s hire brought a different look to the Rams offense, bringing wrinkles of Kyle Shanahan’s offense in San Francisco . This was the year that the Rams started to run more gap and duo with their running game. Rams offense: 8th of 32 (23.8 ppg) Rams defense: 19th of 32 (22.2 ppg against) Raheem Morris became the 5th coach to land a head coaching job from Sean McVay’s staff. Morris secure the At [... truncated ...]
