Coach Chris Shula is the perfect next DC for the LA Rams, and here's why

The LA Rams are now rumored to have decided on former LB Coach/Pass Rush Coordinator Chris Shula to assume the new Defehsive Coordinator role. While the LA Rams reportedly conducted a significant number of interviews, with the decision to go with Chris Shula, the team has take the first step of many towards the future of the franchise - starting with 2024.

The hire is more than a person doing their job. As with any leadership role, who that person is becomes far more important to the direction of the group than you may initially realize. After all, everyone who assumes the mantle of responsibility of decision-making becomes the new pilot of the ship, and they are the one who pilots the craft into the future.

For the future of the Los Angeles Rams, the person who assumes the role of defensive coordinator is more than the standard NFL DC. In the team's organizational chart, the offense ultimately runs through HC Sean McVay. The defense is a bit more autonomous, as the defensive play-calling, roster-building, and overall strategy falls firmly on the defensive coordinator.

I believe that the LA Rams are indeed at the cusp of another Super Bowl run in 2024. That may be naive to think so, especially with the presence of so much uncertainty surrounding the team right now. Who will the team add to the coaching staff? Which players will be extended, and who will test their fair market value in the 2024 NFL Free Agency market?

Who will the team add during the 3-day 2024 NFL Draft? Which positions will be addressed?

Even as the shroud of uncertainty remains entrenched over the immediate future of this team, there are tangible reasons to be quite optimistic. This is the team that tore though the opposition in the latter half of the 2023 NFL season. This is the same team that emerged from the 2023 NFL Draft with as many as five rookies who were not just starters, but NFL leading competitors. Perhaps most of all, this is a team that truly had fun playing football again.

Now, about Chris Shula. Why do I believe that he is the right candidate to become the next Rams Defensive Coordinator? Here are a few of the reasons why:

Here's why Chris Shula is the right man right now

1. Reason IV: It's in his family genetics
2. Reason III: He's put in the time
3. Reason II: Nobody knows the Rams roster better than he does
4. Reason I: Rams pass rush will be a high-priority this offseason

Reason IV: It's in his family genetics

The name Shula is synonymous with elite coaching among NFL circles. Former Miami Dolphins HC Don Shula. Coach Don Shula was the first NFL Head Coach to appear in six different Super Bowls, and the only head coach in NFL history to oversee a perfect season (1972). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1990 at the age of 90.

His son, Dave Shula, carried on the family tradition, enjoying an NFL coaching career that lasted 15 seasons. He began as the Miami Dolphins wide receivers coach in 1982, ultimately leading to become the Cincinnati Bengals head coach in 1992. He would remain in that role with the Bengals until 1996, when a 1-6 start to the season triggered his dismissal.

Now the third generation of coaching, Chris Shula follows the family tradition of coaching in the NFL. He played with Sean McVay in 2006, when they both attended the University of Miami in Ohio. Shula was a linebacker for the Miami Redhawks and earned a reputation as a player with a high football IQ.

He joined his former teammate in 2017 as the inaugural coaching staff for the Rams newly hired head coach, Sean McVay, and he has served on the coaching staff of the Rams in ever increasing responsibility ever since. In 2023, he was the team's Linebackers Coach and Pass Rush Coordinator. While some may scoff at the Rams pass rush, the team enjoyed tremendous production from rookie NT Kobie Turner (9.0 quarterback sacks) as well as rookie OLB Byron Young (8.0 quarterback sacks).

Chris Shula has been immersed in football his entire life, as he is the third generation coach who bears the Shula name. You may be able to point to alternative DC options as having a rising star, but as the Los Angeles Chargers discovered when hiring Rams DC Brandon Staley as their head coach in 2021, that can prove to be a risky move. With Chris Shula, the team is assured of a person who truly embodies a competitive passion of football.

Reason III: He's put in the time

The LA Rams may be an accomplished team that has enjoyed unprecedented success since hiring Sean McVay to lead the team as its head coach, but it has not been a team that has not faced challenges. Perhaps the most difficult season for the team occured in 2022, when the Rams suffered an unprecedented number of injuries, causing the team to struggle to a 5-12 season.

In the grand scheme of things, it's easy to manage success. The very fact that the team is winning motivates everyone to show up and look forward to the next victory. But when the tide goes out, and the only motivation for players is the daily grind, winning can be very difficult to attain.

The Rams bad luck did not end with the 2022 NFL season. Rather, it carried over through the first nine games of the 2023 NFL season as well. That streak of putting in hard work with little to show for it can be an insurmountable wall for many players and coaches. Thankfully, that is not the case for Coach Chris Shula.

It's great to infuse new perspectives into an NFL team's coaching staff. But perhaps it is even more important to promote from within. Sacrifices of long hours at the office and reaching out beyond the job description to address a new need should be rewarded as well. And that reward comes in the form of a promotion.

Now don't interpret this as justifying promoting someone just because they show up for work regularly over the span of several years. That is not the case here. It's due to the fact Chris Shula has managed to keep the players motivated, his units productive, and the team competitive despite a below average investment in the groups he was responsible for.

I cannot stress how crucial that can be for any NFL team. It's easy to lead the highest paid unit in the NFL to be productive. So when the group is young, paid less, or simply overlooked, shouldn't they be considered as strong evidence of the quality of the coach if and when they outperform expectations?

Reason II: Nobody knows the Rams roster better than he does

When any NFL coach has achieved a certain level of seniority with their team, they naturally become the go-to guy in terms of resolving challenges for players and less senior coaches. It's natural, an organic matter of asking someone who has been around long enough to know who to contact or how to solve a daily enigma.

It happens in all organizations, not just in the NFL or even professional sports organizations. Inevitably, there is someone who has been in the organization who helped to navigate through a new software upgrade, a new hire of a key executive, or simply has had successful experience at rolling out the welcome mat for new faces.

Along the way, relationships form. Those interpersonal relationships can prove to be invaluable when it comes to motivation and effective assessment of talent. Knowing what makes a player tick, their strengths and weakness, what motivates them and what makes them check out, can be the difference between winning and losing.

Since he has been with the Rams for the entirety of Sean McVay's tenure, Coach Shula has great insight over what the team, and the head coach, are looking for from players. Better still, he has the experience to know how to get players to that level too. Coach Shula has served under some great NFL defensive minds: Coach Wade Philips, Coach Brandon Staley, and Coach Raheem Morris. With each new season, and on each new assemblage of coaches, Shula has had the opportunity to learn, and grow, in his own coaching abilities.

Reason I: Rams pass rush will be a high-priority this offseason

Before we step away from this topic, I would be remiss if I did not at least touch base on how the selection of Coach Chris Shula can dictate the direction of the LA Rams defense both now and into the future. Even with this first step, the team has made a deliberate and distinct investment into their 2024 defensive priorities. That appears to place the team's pass rush among their top priorities for 2024.

Coach Shula has had a variety of roles on the coaching staff, and it's almost a certainty that his strong background with outside linebackers and most recently with the pass rush played a significant role in his hiring as the new DC. Looking back, Coach Shula is to the LA Rams defensive coordinator role in 2024, as Coach Brandon Staley is to the defensive coordinator role in 2020.

The Rams pass rush in 2023 was not as disappointing as you may initially think. For 2023, the Rams' investment in their linebacker corps was the least in the NFL. In terms of edge rushers, the team was the 31st-least invested. If you spend beer money, don't expect to be sipping top-shelf champagne. If you fast forward to 2024, the situation does not improve. Perhaps we should factor in that least-paid fact into the assessment when viewing the defense's 41 quarterback sacks in 2023 (25th ranked in the NFL) as criteria for the team's struggles on defense.

But cutting checks is not going to fix that issue. It's simply a way to spend more. To be more effective at getting to the opposing quarterback, the team has to adopt an entirely new defensive strategy that involves stronger investment, better player development and production, stronger secondary and pass coverage, and a large dose of patience.

It starts with having the right coordinator in place who has a solid vision for which direction the team, and the defense, must take now and moving forward. After all, interviews for the LA Rams DC role included two head coaches with strong defensive backgrounds, two DB coaches, one DL coach, and one LB/Pass rush coach. it's no mere coincidence that the Pass rush coach is the choice for the role.

The more I have pondered Coach Chris Shula, the more appreciative I am becoming over what he brings to the role. I believe that the LA Rams made the right choice. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section of our Facebook page.

And thanks for reading.