5 LA Rams coaches who may not be back in 2022

As we are now days away from changing over from 2021 to 2022, there is an entire array of new football topics that come to the forefront. One of the most important, yet painful, topics is the likelihood of the LA Rams losing more coaches to other teams that are interested in jump-starting a bit of positivity and improvement by cannibalizing the coaching staff of the LA Rams again.

It’s another coaching carousel, the phenomenon of Alaskan sourdough bread. What do I mean? Well, due to the shortage of yeast, the first settlers in Alaskan would make a large loaf of sourdough, and then pinch off a piece to store in a warm damp place. Whenever the urge arose to make more, what did they do? They just added the remnant from the last load to the new dough.

In much the same way, other teams are hopeful of culturing the LA Rams’ positive, winning culture by pinching off a coach or two and building a new coaching staff around him. Of course, there are a number of elements that contribute to the LA Rams’ ability to flourish on the brink of salary cap drought and what seems like a fountain of roster youth, but we can dive into those elements at a later time.

Okay, who is at risk of leaving in the off-season?

For now, it’s a good time to plant the flag at the positional coaches and coordinators who may be lured away from this LA Rams coaching staff as the 2022 coaching carousel begins once more. These coaches, past and present, are the true unsung heroes of the team. They have often been asked to do more, with less. While the Rams have taken great risks, it was the coaching staff that built the foolproof systems that minimized the risk and optimized the performance.

Of course, transplanting Rams coaches into new surroundings do not always have positive effects. When the Seattle Seahawks poached passing game coordinator Shane Waldron as their new offensive coordinator and grabbed assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson, that seemed to accelerate the Seahawks’ demise.

So this year, we’ve kept our ear to the door to discover any whisper, rumor, or hypothetical ‘fit’ of an LA Rams positional coach to new opportunities in the 2022 season, and have made some notes to ourselves to ensure we are not surprised this year (like we were in 2021 with seven defections). All set? Here we go.

Wide receiver coach

It’s about time that LA Rams Wide Receiver Coach Eric Yarber finally is getting his time in the spotlight. This man has been nothing but excellence and a wellspring of positivity to the LA Rams receivers, and that positivity has spread throughout the organization.

While most wide receiver positional coaches coach up their receivers to be their best possible version of receiver, Eric Yarber does not stop there. He coaches up the LA Rams receivers to be their best possible version of football players. He does not limit his mentorship to catching passes. He instructs his players in running precision pass routes, showing sticky hands to help out the quarterback, and even the lost art of blocking among wide receivers.

How do you like Coach Yarber now?

All too few positional coaches can infuse healthy competition into a receiver room, over who blocks the best. But Yarber has managed to do so with the Rams receivers. The friendly rivalry that has grown from mutual respect into a true friendship between Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp is not common in the NFL. But it is the basis of the Rams’ success, because neither player is selfish, and willingly sacrifices his own statistical production to help his teammate, and his team.

That’s the Yarber mindset. He is that person who will stop and listen to the needs or concerns of a player. It’s not a job, it’s a passion to help develop and mentor players. And it’s the stuff that forges life-long friendships.

The only detractor on Yarber so far has been the cliche ‘always a bridesmaid and never a bride’ to describe the fact that his receivers have been consistently good, but not elite, among NFL circles. Well, the record-setting pace of Cooper Kupp this season has raised some eyebrows and placed Eric Yarber on the NFL shortlist of new and larger roles in the NFL. He has meant the world to the Rams organization. But he could be lured away because, quite frankly, he’s just that good.

DawgWork at its finest

There is such a joy of life and passion within Rams Defensive Line Coach Eric Henderson that he can turn the grueling thankless job of training to become the best NFL defensive lineman possible into a near cult among his players. How can Coach Henny continue to churn out one of the best defensive line units in the NFL? He gets the most out of each and every one of his players.

Sure, you can point to the fact that he has All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald among that unit. But then you’d have missed the point that former sixth-round selection from the 2018 NFL Draft, DL Sebastian Joseph Day, had been so solid before his injury? You’d be blind to the fact that his teammate, DL Greg Gaines, who arrived on the team in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, is one of the hottest young stars in the NFL right now?

You’d even be completely ignorant of the fact that the LA Rams’ current 53 man roster boasts two of six defensive linemen who never heard their names called in the NFL Draft whatsoever.  And you may be taken by complete surprise to learn that another Rams practice squad defensive lineman was undrafted as well.

Always coaching. Always promoting. Always passionate.

Coach Henny is a strategic advantage for the LA Rams

Coach Henny is not just a positional coach. He is a key strategic advantage that the LA Rams have over other teams because he can coach up players from the ranks of the undrafted into NFL starters, and perhaps even future NFL stars. But he is not just some taskmaster drill sergeant. He has such a passion for his role that he literally infects everyone and anyone around him.

Now, how well is the three-man defensive line front performing this year, after losing their starting nose tackle for the season? Sportsnaut.com has the unit as the eighth-best defensive line in the NFL and rising. Coach Henderson is a perennial Top-10 defensive line in the NFL, oftentimes among the Top-3.

There is so much to love about Henderson, that this article could be 3000 words simply on what he brings to the team. But the purest form of compliment that I can bestow upon this man is the fact is that he pours out his all to everyone. He challenges the stars and the rookies equally. It is this fact that has made him the coach of choice for Aaron Donald.

The Dawg secret is out of the bag

Will he or won’t he remain with the LA Rams? It’s clear that defensive line coach Eric Henderson is one of the most accomplished and respected position coaches in the NFL. But it’s that reputation that makes him an ideal target for other NFL/NCAA football programs seeking to infuse excellence quickly. Let’s not bullshit on this one. Coach Henderson is excellent, and excellent is always a great option for any coaching staff.

The University of Florida is one such football program currently rumored to be in hot pursuit of Eric Henderson, who was hired on with the LA Rams in February 2019.  Will he be lured away? The growth of any coach is the willingness to take on larger roles and new challenges. Even if the Gators are unsuccessful at pulling away Henderson, other coaching opportunities will soon follow.

Coach Eric Henderson truly is one the best positional coaches in football circles today. Even as he loves the work he is doing with the LA Rams, we cannot be so naive as to believe that other opportunities won’t come his way in the off-season. We would love to see Coach Henderson remain with the LA Rams for many years to come. But, just as other positional coaches have discovered, sometimes promotions only happen with a suitcase in hand.

Special finish for special teams

The LA Rams have not had much luck recently with the special teams’ play, and Special Teams Coordinator Joe DeCamillis is simply the third coordinator over the past three seasons tasked with trying to turn the ship around. But, it hasn’t been easy. Some of it has been well above the coordinator’s paygrade as well.

In 2020, the LA Rams signed up three placekickers to compete for the team’s starting kicker position. While much of the competition was held out of view of the public, the two scrimmage contests that were on display for the LA Rams fans clearly revealed Sam Sloman to be a distant third to either Lirim Hajrullahu or Austin MacGinnis. And yet, the Rams opted to go with Sloman, which proved to be disastrous for the team. The LA Rams finally signed PK Matt Gay halfway through the season.

In much the same way, the Rams signed up 2020’s best punter, Corey Bojorquez, to compete with Johnny Hekker for the Rams starting punter job. Even though Bojorquez showed a near-perfect performance in the final preseason game, the Rams opted to retain the far more expensive Hekker and traded Bojorquez to the Green Bay Packers for next to nothing.  Bojorquez has been named as an alternate to this year’s NFL Pro Bowl.

Making the best out of a bad situation

While many fans may not be enamored with Special Teams Coordinator Joe DeCamillis, the NFL experts surely took notice of the Rams’ slow by steady improvements throughout the long season.  The three areas where the LA Rams are coming up near the bottom of the NFL? Punting Average, Punting Net Average, and Punt returns (but that will improve as Brandon Powell is on fire now). So how are the Green Bay Packers doing on punting? They are among the NFL’s Top-10 in both Punting average and Punting Net Average.

The special teams unit performance has been tainted with bad decisions, and that is clearly something that is common in both 2020 and 2021. Since DeCamillis is being held accountable for the performance, regardless of who is playing, that could be enough to create a rift in his future with the Rams. The Rams have continued to sign and audition players for coverage and return duties, having found a relatively unknown Brandon Powell who is now the talk of the town with his return for a touchdown.

While I have not heard of any specific rumors of DeCamillis’ imminent departure, it will come as no surprise if it happens. Between a host of injuries, bad decisions, and simply unlucky performance, he has made the best of a bad situation. I’m not sure whether he or the team would purposely choose another round of the same grog.

Offensive coordinator

The motivation to the hiring new Offensive Coordinator Kevin O’Connell was a rather pointed task of developing the team’s quarterbacks. That was doubly so for the Rams starting quarterback in 2020, Jared Goff.  The Rams offense regressed in 2019, with a failing offensive line that was battered due to multiple repetitive injuries, and the hope was to grow Goff beyond needing perfectly formed passing pockets to run the Rams offense.

Okay, so the LA Rams hired Kevin O’Connell, he was brought in due to his ability to coach up young quarterbacks. Funny thing is, Goff is gone. Now that he is coaching veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, what is there for Kevin O’Connell to really do?

Time to grow or go

While there is most certainly a stack of inbox player evaluations, scouting notes, and a host of other administrative types of tasks to perform, the question comes down to whether that role is truly challenging to O’Connell as his third NFL season approaches the team.

When the LA Rams lost former Defensive Coordinator Brandon Staley to the Los Angeles Chargers, his first order of business was to request permission to interview Kevin O’Connell for the role of his new offensive coordinator. Because it was not a promotion and was simply a lateral move, the LA Rams were able to deny the request and in the process retained O’Connell. Still, Staley worked daily with O’Connell and the fact that he felt that O’Connell would consider a lateral move in the first place suggests that Kevin O’Connell is vulnerable to leaving this year as well.

While I do not suspect that O’Connell will be on the list for NFL head coaching positions, I would be surprised if some NFL team did not dangle a title of ‘Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator’ in front of him to lure him away from the Rams, particularly after the strong offensive rebound shown by the Rams offense this year.

Defender of the faith

It’s almost impossible to spend any time on social media without reading some new outraged fan calling for the immediate firing of Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris. Yes the LA Rams are 11-4. But fans insist that the LA Rams defense is horrible, that despite offensive flaws that have gifted 14 points to the opposing teams in those losses, that it is the defense’s fault that the Rams lost the game.

Yes, the Rams pass defense has allowed 15 touchdowns but picked off 16 interceptions. Yes, the LA Rams have been thrown against the fourth-most-often times (560 pass attempts) in the NFL, but have the seventh-worst passer rating in the NFL.  Yes, the LA Rams have allowed 17 rushing touchdowns, but have held opponents to just 96.9 yards per game (sixth-ranked rush defense) and just 3.8 yards per rush (third-ranked rush defense).

Fans may ignore that type of performance, but NFL general managers, eager to find a new and inspiring head coach to turn their team around, have not. This has been a defense that suffered wholesale attrition from the NFL’s Top-Ranked defense in 2020, and yet committed valuable draft currency to stockpiling offensive receivers who have contributed next to nothing for the team this year.

Bridging the time-span while waiting for his next head coaching gig?

While he has only been with the LA Rams one year and had not gotten a very warm reception by LA Rams fans, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris’ name continues to come up as a potential head coach for the 2022 NFL season. If he leaves after one year, not only will the LA Rams be shopping for their fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons, but the Rams will not be compensated.

The search for a new head coach among NFL teams typically tries to prioritize three basic characteristics:  Was that coach part of an improving or successful football campaign? Is that coach respected and appreciated by his players? Can or has that coach handled head coaching duties in the past?

However you may feel about Raheem Morris, he most certainly does check all of the boxes for the criteria necessary to be interviewed for a head coaching position in 2022. And the reality is that he was very successful initially after taking over the Atlanta Falcons as the interim head coach. When we first published the article about the possibility of Morris taking over as the new head coach for another NFL team in the offseason, the comments on both social media were absolutely brutal.

Of course, it’s easy to vanquish a coach if you have no regard over how to replace him? Right now, the LA Rams defense is playing the best football of the season. Too few realize the value of continuity it seems. Just keep in mind to be careful what you wish for, as you just may get it. And the fact is that the defense without Raheem Morris in 2022 will still be challenged each day to perform well.