5 Defensive Coordinator candidates to replace Raheem Morris for 2024

The word is out on LA Rams semi-well-kept secret, Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris. That word is that he will make a great NFL team's head coach for this hiring cycle. Perhaps that is why four NFL teams have asked for him to interview for a second time, this time as an in-person interview, for the vacant role of head coach for their team. Those teams include the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, and the Washington Commanders.

We are not blind to the fact that Morris is more likely than not to be lured away from the LA Rams with a very attractive offer to become the head coach of one of those teams. We also recognize that if Raheem Morris is hired as the head coach of some NFL team, the LA Rams would be awarded two compensatory picks in Round 3, one in each of the next two successive NFL Drafts. That is a pretty sizeable compensation, and could arm the LA Rams 2024 NFL Draft with 11 picks, four of which could fall nearly among the Top 100 picks of the draft

In 2022, the LA Rams first pick did not fall until the 104th overall pick.

Still, losing a defensive coordinator, one who has unselfishly led the Rams defense to a Lombardi Trophy, has earned the respect and praise of highly respected NFL aficionados, including NFL executives, GMs, coaches, and even elite players. While a vocal minority of fans may not have a full appreciation of Raheem Morris's role as LA Rams defensive coordinator, the Rams organization and players do.

Which leads to this next problem to solve. Who can the LA Rams tap to take over as defensive coordinator for team should Raheem Morris be hired as a head coach? That is a rather tricky topic, is it not? Since Morris is in the running to be hired, the Rams must have a strategy that can be executed almost instantly. But since Morris is still the Rams DC until hired, teams that make their decision sooner rather than later in terms of hiring a new head coach get the jump on the Rams in terms of queuing up solid DC candidates.

And Morris himself becomes a competitor for the Rams other coaches, as well as their ideal prospects to fill open coaching positions. So, the next Rams defensive coordinator will not only have to be ready to go, but may need to hire multiple positional coaching vacancies as well.

Who should the LA Rams have on speed dial should Raheem Morris put in his notice? We have five solid candidates.

5 DC options to take over for Rams DC Raheem Morris

1. Option V: Former Eagles DC Sean Desal
2. Option IV: Former Rams DC Brandon Staley
3. Option III: DB Coach Aubrey Pleasant
4. Option II: Asst Head Coach Jimmy Lake
5. Option I: Former Rams DB Coach Ejiro Evero

Option V: Former Eagles DC Sean Desal

While the Philadelphia Eagles precipitous decline in the latter part of the 2023 NFL season is not an ideal way to bolster a coach's resume, Eagles former DC Sean Desal was removed from his position mid-way in the season, and the plummet really took hold. Desal was under fire on the Eagles coaching staff after a Week 12 OT victory against the Buffalo Bills by the score of 37-34. The Eagles defense then allowed 42 points against a motivated San Francisco 49ers team, and then 33 points against NFC East Division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys.

In those games, the Eagles offense only managed to score 19 and 13 points, respectively.

That was all she wrote for Desal, who was demoted and former Detroit Lions HC Matt Patricia took over the defensive play-calling duties. The Eagles would lose four of the next five games, including a playoff game, as the defense would average surrendering 27.8 points per game under Patricia's watch. It was worse than Desal. Perhaps the problem lie with the offense, as the Eagles managed to score just 18.9 points per game in the last seven games played?

Sean Desal may have been thrown from the horse in Philly, but he has some intriguing attributes to consider for the LA Rams DC role. For starters, he was the Defensive Coordinator for the Chicago Bears in 2021, He learned defensive strategy under legendary DC Vic Fangio, From there, he became the Seattle Seahawks associate HC and defensive assistant for the Seattle Seahawks in 2022. The Eagles plucked Desal from the Seahawks coaching staff to become their new DC in 2023.

While Desal does not have extensive experience as an NFL DC, he does have unique qualities that will difficult to replicate in other candidates. For starters, he is intimately familiar with the Fangio defensive system, one that frustrates offensive coordinators and quarterbacks as it masks coverages. Secondly, he has intimate familiarity with the NFC Western Division, having had a year with the Seattle Seahawks, the year that the Seahawks surprised everyone with a playoff appearance.

What could Rams fans look for from Sean Desal-designed defense? Because he runs a version of the 3-4 base, he will not bring fundamental changes. He will likely use some version of zone coverage, with a two-high safety shell. The secondary coverages will be geared to prevent big plays. Finally, he will lean heavily upon a defensive front that generates QB sacks without blitzing. 

Forget what he did or did not accomplish with the Philadelphia Eagles.

His defense pretty much checks the boxes on what fans want to see in the Rams defense in 2024.

Option IV: Former Rams DC Brandon Staley

There is no way that the LA Rams can rifle through candidates for a new defensive coordinator role without the discussion about bringing former Rams DC Brandon Staley back to the fold. I don't think that I am the only one who felt that Staley's one-and-done chapter as the LA Rams DC had run its course by any means. When Staley was hired as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, it felt as though many accomplishments were left undone on the Rams defense.

Let's tackle the elephant in the room from the start. Staley's defense with the LA Rams was superb, but it was not as flawless as some memories may portray it to be. The Rams were vulnerable over the middle, a weakness that became incredibly obvious against the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round of the 2021 NFL Playoffs. The Rams would lose by a score of 32-18.

Can you ever truly go back? I do not have a good answer to that question, nor do I know how to qualify or quantify the likelihood that Staley could replicate his former stellar success. Keep in mind that Brandon Staley inherited a supercharged secondary, a formidable pass rush, and a defense that had been steadily improving.

Staley did indeed put his thumbprints all over that defense, one that was noted for incredible halftime adjustments that would put the Rams back in the hunt for victories despite early game struggles. Perhaps Staley is a prime candidate, if only to see how his second half defensive adjustments work alongside starting quarterback Matthew Stafford's ability to engineer fourth-quarter comebacks and game winning drives.

But this is not the same defense that Staley left. This is a young and energetic group of players who are less about subterfuge and camouflage and more about snarling and getting in your face. Could Staley work his magic with an almost entirely new group of players on the Rams roster?

Option III: DB Coach Aubrey Pleasant

The LA Rams reported lost the services of DB Coach Aubrey Pleasant when the team had a vacant defensive coordinator position, and Pleasant was not tapped for the job. He eventually left to take on a similar role with the Detroit Lions. That chapter did not work out for him as planned, which led to the most fortuitous circumstances when he was hired to resume his work with the LA Rams young defensive backs.

Much like the concerns over Brandon Staley resuming his role as LA Rams DC, Aubrey Pleasant's secondary is not formed around the same All-Pro talent of DB Jalen Ramsey. Without that lynchpin of universal coverage in the secondary, the Rams defensive backs were not nearly as formidable as Pleasant's past chapter working with Rams players.

But let's not get all wrapped up in comparisons that only lead to disappointment. The Rams spent next to nothing on the secondary and got amazing results from so little investment. Per Spotrac.com, the LA Rams spent just $9.8 million on the secondary, which comes in as the 30th-least amount spent by any NFL team in 2023. That works out to serving a five-course dinner to a family of eight using nothing but rice cakes, tofu, flour, and salt.

You could see Pleasant's thumbprints all over the Rams pass coverage. Rams DBs no longer played soft. Rather, they were aggressive and violent, far more challenging both quarterbacks and receivers than in the recent past. Sometimes the performance of young DBs were a bit too aggressive, as the penalties tossed against Derion Kendrick illustrated. But the Rams were a far more formidable pass defense this season, and certainly could be categorized as over-achievers when considering the Scrooge-like investment made by the team.

One thing you can be sure of. Any defense led by DC Aubrey Pleasant is going to be as tough as nails, won't back down from any challenge, and will fill down to the last man until the final whistle sounds. I do believe that Aubrey Pleasant will make a good DC someday, perhaps a great one. But the LA Rams may have even better option in the queue for DC should the need arise.

Option II: Asst Head Coach Jimmy Lake

From the moment that the LA Rams announced hiring former University of Washington HC Jimmy Lake as the newly created Assistant Head Coach role, I thought that the Rams were simply stocking Jimmy Lake away for the day when Raheem Morris would be hired away as head coach to another NFL team. Then, the Rams could simply slide Jimmy Lake into the Defensive Coordinator role, while retaining his Assistant HC title.

Jimmy Lake is a Raheem Morris guy. That is, the two worked together on the same coaching staff as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They worked together in 2007, when Morris was the Bucs DB coach. They reunited in 2011-12 when Morris was the Buccaneers head coach, and Lake was his DB coach. And much like Morris, Jimmy Lake brings substantial experience and depth of knowledge about defenses to any role he fills on a coaching staff.

Lake was the secondary coach for the University of Washington, which produced outstanding defensive backs who flourished in the NFL. He was promoted to Defensive Coordinator for Washington, and eventually to Head Coach.

Lake is a great communicator. He has proven that ability to get his message across to young football players throughout his NFL and NCAA coaching career. So what makes him a more suitable DC, because both Lake and Pleasant share that ability? Well, only Lake has leveraged that attribute to lead an entire defense and even an entire team. He is a guy who leaves nothing to chance. He digests as many details and data points as possible and then compiles an effective strategy based on all known information.

In my opinion, the LA Rams front office hired Jimmy Lake for the scenario that is playing out this year, namely the likelihood that Raheem Morris will be hired away seems fairly certain. But there is one more candidate who could be even more ideal to take over as the LA Rams Defensive coordinator. And he has ties with the LA Rams as well.

Option I: Former Rams DB Coach Ejiro Evero

The LA Rams once employed Ejiro Evero as their secondary coach, a role that he held when the LA Rams won Super Bowl LVI. Evero would vacate his secondary coach role with the LA Rams to become the Denver Broncos Defensive Coordinator.

The Broncos' defense was very good in 2022, Some might say, incredibly so. But even a brilliant performance in his first year as Broncos DC could not save his job, and he found himself looking for work once more. It was one year ago, as Rams DC Raheem Morris was interviewing for head coaching positions at that time, that it made complete sense to consider Evero as the natural and logical successor to Morris as the Rams next DC.

Morris was not hired away, and Ejiro Evero was ultimately hired by the Carolina Panthers to fill their DC role. With the Panthers rebuilding a new coaching staff, Evero is showing up for a new round of interviews, this time for selected head coaching positions.

Evero is an astute football mind, and has always held Rams HC Sean McVay is high regard. as his media interview as Broncos DC before the Rams played the Broncos in 2022.

If you recall, the LA Rams exploded for 51 points against the Broncos in that game. The Broncos entered the game with a record of 4-10, and the players were simply no longer content to compete for then head coach Nathan Hackett. The Broncos fired Hackett after that game.

Eviro has a complete command of Xs and Os, football strategy, player mindsets and attributes, and has a patient and calming demeanor for young rookies, an undervalued attribute that will prove to be quite critical for the LA Rams in 2024 and beyond.

By the time the LA Rams know one way or another about the status of DC Raheem Morris, Ejiro Evero may be hired elsewhere. But if he is available, and agrees to interview with the LA Rams for the Defensive Coordinator vacancy, he is my top candidate at this point.

Did we miss anyone? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section of our Facebook page. As always, thanks for reading.