LA Rams News: Chargers’ Staley poaches LB Coach Barry

The dust hasn’t settled just yet in the LA Rams coaching carousel. Yes, the Rams lost their one-year wonder defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to the Los Angeles Chargers as their new head coach. And yes, the Rams denied permission for offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell to interview for a lateral move to the Chargers as their offensive coordinator. But the hits keep on coming, as the Chargers have now hired Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Coach Joe Barry to join Staley’s staff.

Barry joined the Rams in 2017, following head coach Sean McVay to the LA Rams from the Washington Football team. He immediately started to work on adding depth to the team’s linebacking corps. Barry is a pragmatist. He works with what he has, and that oftentimes has translated into table scraps in terms of paying free agents or draft picks for talented rookies.

Barry was a gifted linebacker whisperer. He could take overlooked linebacking talent, work with them for several years, and deliver an NFL-ready linebacker to the Rams. That gift cannot be overemphasized. It has allowed the LA Rams to ignore the linebacker position for the past four years, allowing the team to bring in talent at other positions.

Barry did his thing

Meanwhile, Barry ‘did his thing’ with the talent that he had on the roster. He mentored the skyrocketing success of ILB Cory Littleton, who parlayed arriving as an undrafted free agent to the LA Rams into a megadeal signing with the Las Vegas Raiders. ILB Troy Reeder, who has taken a similar career track, showed signs of solid improvement in 2020, as he was forced into a starting role after both projected starters, ILB Travin Howard and ILB Micah Kiser, fell to injury.

Barry brought a wealth of solid coaching experience to the Rams staff. In fact, he was the former linebackers coach of the Chargers for three seasons. He then became Washington’s defensive coordinator. In fact, his career has involved chapters at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Detroit Lions, the USC Trojans, Washington, and the LA Rams.

Barry was more than an inside linebackers guy. He covered it all, and there is no better example of how well he did his job than the performances of players, both young and veteran, off the edge. Yes, some of the success in the Rams defensive system was the ‘Aaron Donald effect‘.  But there is most certainly a component of their success due to Barry’s mentorship and coaching as well.  Barry was always at the ready to talk to his players, explaining the difference between what they did and what the play required them to do.

While it’s true that some Rams fans do not view Barry as a strength to the Rams coaching staff, there are reasons to miss him. He allowed the Rams to coach-up undervalued rookie talent and NFL veteran free agents alike. Not only did they perform better under Barry on the Rams defense, but the team benefitted with awarded compensatory picks when they signed large contracts to play elsewhere. And then, Barry grabbed the next group of undrafted rookies and undervalued veterans and began the process all over again.

Barry’s defection will cut deeply

The Rams are hiring Raheem Morris as their new defensive coordinator, and just in the nick of time. The linebacking corps in disarray. The Rams run a 3-4 defense, but only have three linebackers returning to fill the middle with Micah Kiser, Kenny Young, and Troy Reeder. And the Rams will be parting ways with four players on the linebacking corps due to expiring contracts with ILB Travin Howard, OLB Samson Ebukam, OLB/DE Derek Rivers, and OLB Leonard Floyd.

As strong as the defense was in 2020, the linebackers did not have the feel of a group that carried their share of the load. Of course, the Rams have not invested in the position with any fervor. The Rams lost OLB Clay Matthews, OLB Dante Fowler Jr., ILB Bryce Hager, and ILB Cory Littleton, and replaced the quartet with free-agent signing OLB Leonard Floyd, rookie OLB Terrell Lewis, and ILB Clay Johnston (who signed on with the Carolina Panthers before the season started).

That’s a huge question now for the LA Rams. Will the departure of Barry to the Chargers and more momentum to converting to a 4-3  defense, and emphasize the strength of this LA Rams defense that seems to be overflowing with talent on the defensive line? Or do the Rams stick to a 3-4 foundation, but invest heavily in the type of linebackers required to fill the vacancies and voids in the defense?

The Rams’ top-ranked NFL defense took two major hits now. Not only did the Rams lose defensive coordinator Brandon Staley after just one season, but now he has pried Joe Barry from the Rams coaching staff as well. While it will certainly force the Rams to re-evaluate their interest in their linebackers, Barry’s continuity will be difficult to replace. Of course, the Rams must now start the search and we will be happy to research some potential replacements.

Times they are a’changing for the LA Rams. Life comes at you fast. And it seems that each year, the LA Rams are back to the hunt for replacements for coaches who are hired and promoted elsewhere. That is the cost of success in the NFL, and the LA Rams have been rather successful over the past four seasons. It’s time for another reload of the coaching staff and players. The only hiccup? There are no guarantees that the Rams can find NFL starters at linebacker among undrafted players going forward.