Can LA Rams retain CB coach Pleasant upon hiring DC Brandon Staley?

The LA Rams filled the vacant defensive coordinator role with Denver Broncos OLB coach Brandon Staley. Now can team retain CB Coach Pleaant?

The LA Rams have been blessed with young talented position coaches. But its akin to the sword of Diomedes.  Talents young talent on the coaching is never more than one phone call away of being a young talented coach on some other team’s coaching staff.  Such is the case with LA Rams defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant.

Pleasant is already a young up-and-coming star coach in many organizations.  And as NFL teams rehire or fire coaches, you can bet that Pleasant’s name comes up in the conversations of replacing those now vacant coaching positions. After all, he had interviewed for the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator role just one short year ago. While he did not land the job, the die were cast.  Pleasant is ready for promotion.

The 2020 off-season for the LA Rams has been marked with change and challenges.  At the opening bell, the Rams opted not to renew defensive coordinator Wade Phillips contract, and dismissed running back coach Skip Peete.  While some change is good, this change immediately triggered the possibility of promoting Pleasant to the DC role he coveted just one year prior.  But Rams linebacker coach Joe Barry is also seeking a larger role, and had interviewed for a defensive coordinator role at USC days earlier. Two young talented coaches, one promotion.

The Rams did the unthinkable: they went outside of the organization and hired Denver Broncos outside linebackers coach Brandon Staley as the new defensive coordinator. While this keeps both Pleasant and Barry on equal footing relevant to their value to the Rams organization, it does complicate the likelihood of keeping either, or both, on staff for the foreseeable future.

The Rams have a good defensive secondary, highlighted by their ranking at eighth among pro-football focus defensive backfield rankings.  Surprisingly, the Rams rank actually improved dramatically after trading away star cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib.  The Rams shipped Peters to the Baltimore Ravens, and Talib to the Miami Dolphins. In the process, the team improved their defense, added a shut-down cornerback, and got younger on defense.  All of which occured under the oversight of coach Pleasant.

The Rams will need a similar effort from Pleasant this season, as the team will work furiously to age rookie safety Taylor Rapp, decide the fate of veteran safety Eric Weddle, and assess the talent available in the 2020 NFL Draft, as well as help all the young players signed to future contracts.  In short, Pleasant already has a full slate for this season. Let’s hope he sticks around long enough to get the job done.