The Rams are losing more than just 4 coaches. and more may be on the way

When the LA Rams ended the 2023 NFL season, LA Rams HC Sean McVay made a point very clear. He stated that he was very happy with his entire coaching staff and that he would love to have them all return to the Rams coaching staff for 2024. After all, why not? The Rams exceeded all expectations, as the team literally broke every rule in the book in terms of building an NFL Playoff-caliber roster.

The Rams carried far too much dead cap space to compete in 2023 (Over $77 million in dead cap space), had far too few veterans to lead the team over the course of the season, and relied far too heavily on rookies to succeed this season. After all, it's a known fact that young players are too erratic, and cannot be counted on to perform consistently enough on a week-to-week basis to contend for a berth in the NFL Playoffs.

And yet, the LA Rams team, the same team that began the 2023 NFL season with a record of just 3-6, finished off the season with a 7-1 playoff run that would catapult the team into the heart of post-season competition. And if you had the chance to read the emotions of Rams HC Sean McVay, he was having the time of his life.

This all comes just one year after the very same Rams HC Sean McVay needed to step away from the Rams organization for a while.

Now, he is not only eager to get back up on the horse, but he is already rounding up a posse to do so.

So what is it about this LA Rams team that has rejuvenated the passion and pleasure in football for the entire Rams organization? The simplest reason that anyone chooses the heartbreaking path of football as a career vocation, it seems: For the love of the game.

The same feelings that rang through the entire Rams organization after winning Super Bowl LVI were beginning to burn once more. But this was not born out of the glory of winning it all. Rather, this was a season that was even more special in many ways. This was a season forged in the brotherhood of believing and trusting one another in ways that few from the outside can ever truly understand.

This was not a team that beat the odds. Rather, the LA Rams picked up every doubter and nay-sayer and chucked them aside. This was a team that did not play for trophies, rings, big stages, or bright spotlights. This was a team that embraced the rigors of a tough journey as its own reward. The LA Rams emerged from the gauntlet of the 2023 NFL season with the knowledge that they had mastered the journey on their own terms.

But it was a journey that not everyone can and will resume in 2024. The LA Rams know that at the end of each season, their coaching staff will be subjected to being cannibalized by other NFL teams who hope to master their own gauntlets. And it's that process of shedding and reintroducing new coaches that had sustained the LA Rams at the forefront of NFL and football strategies.

Who has left the LA Rams coaching staff already? And who might join them?

1. Run Game Coordinator/DL Coach Eric Henderson
2. QB Coach/Pass Game Coordinator Zac Robinson
3. Assistant HC Jimmy Lake
4. DC Raheem Morris
5. Patriots loading up on Rams coaches?
6. UPDATE as of 9:45 am PT on January 31, 2024

Run Game Coordinator/DL Coach Eric Henderson

The loss of LA Rams Run Game Coordinator/DL Coach Eric Henderson is one that no words can truly quanitfiy. As much of a loss to the Rams coaching staff as you might imagine this to be, it's a bit greater. Coach Henny was not only the premier defensive line coach in the NFL, but he was a quality gentleman off the football field as well.

Yes, USC got a good one.

Perhaps some of the lesser understood contributions from Coach Henny is hos consistently he managed to have his players at a point to perform on game day, regardless of where or how they round their way onto the Rams roster. Coach Henny had a keen eye that saw a player beyond how they performed on any individual snap of the football. He insisted on only adding players who never took a play off.

What I loved most about Coach Henny's perspective is that he valued his players for more than quarterback sacks or tackles. He had a broad perspective on what each player on that defense needed to do, and applauded his players for performing their roles and responsibilities. In other words, he was just as apt to get excited about a blocker gobbler keeping two or three blockers tied up to free up a teammate to make a tackle for a loss as he was about a QB sack.

It was that chess-move strategy that applauded the contributions of everyone who played for him that I think will be missed the most. Eric Henderson possessed a quality that few persons do in modern times. Coach Henny remained humble enough in a world of social media, influencers, and self-proclaimed celebrities to be grateful for the achievements of others.

It was, and is, his willingness to lean into every interaction with a kind word, an infectious roar of laughter, a reassuring hand on the shoulder, or a sympathetic ear that not only ensured he would connect with his many players, but that each player knew that he was genuinely concerned with their well-being. Coach Henny brought out the fight in his players, not out of fear of letting the guy down, but out of love for the man who did and will always have their backs.

QB Coach/Pass Game Coordinator Zac Robinson

The LA Rams may have only had Pass Game Coordinator/Quarterback Coach Zac Robinson on the coaching staff since 2019, but he has been a rapidly rising star among NFL coaches over that period of time. And his reputation truly began to impress NFL coaching circes over the past two seasons.

It has all culminated with the hiring of Rams Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris as the new Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Because he is quite versed on the defensive side of the football, he had to assure the brass with the Falcons organization that he had a top offensive coordinator candidate committed to join him as the new Falcons offensive coordinator if the team hired Morris.

The Falcons did hire Morris, who made good on his promise and hired LA Rams QB Coach Zac Robinson to become his Offensive Coordinator.

So what makes the candidacy of Zac Robinson so appealing to Raheem Morris and the Atlanta Falcons?

Zac Robinson was not only an offensive coach who worked daily and intimately with LA Rams HC Sean McVay for five years, but he was the understudy to LA Rams former OC Kevin O'Connell for three seasons, before O'Connell was hired to become the new head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

In 2022, Robinson was promoted to QB Coach/Pass Game Coordinator, and that is when his true colors were unfurled. If you recall, the LA Rams 2022 season derailed pretty quickly due to injuries as the Rams fell to a record of 5-12. But, the season would have been much worse if not for the heroics of veteran backup QB Baker Mayfield, who literally stepped off the plane and delivered a win for the Rams hours later. The reason he could pilot the Rams offense? The intensive cramming season provided by QB Coach Zac Robinson.

Robinson was no one-hit wonder. Mayfield would win a second game for the Rams by shredding a stingy Denver Broncos defense on Christmas Day, putting up 51 points.

But Robinson's reputation would skyrocket the very next season, as the LA Rams signed another veteran QB to the team. This time it was the oft-maligned QB Carson Wentz who would take the Rams junior varsity team to face the San Francisco 49ers varsity team in Week 18. Despite the 49ers regular season winning streak, Wentz would lead the Rams backups to victory over the 49ers.

Now, Raheem Morris and the Atlanta Falcons hope that Zac Robinson can interpret McVay's offense for the Falcons players with similar results.

Assistant HC Jimmy Lake

From the moment that the LA Rams hired former UW Head Coach Jimmy Lake to the Rams coaching staff, I considered his hiring as a form of insurance to ensure continuity on the Rams defense if and when DC Raheem Morris would be hired away as a head coach for another NFL team. The LA Rams love to have understudies built into their coaching staff, and Lake seemed to be the perfect padawan to learn from Jedi Knight DC Morris.

I even included Jimmy Lake as one of five ideal candidates to replace Raheem Morris as the new Rams Defensive Coordinator long before Morris was hired away. Instead, the joke is on me as he will become Raheem Morris' new defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.

It's tough to get a full GPS read on how effective Rams Assistant Head Coach Jimmy Lake was for the Rams organization without a better understanding of what his official responsibilities were with the team

We can infer that Lake had some oversight for the Rams defense, if for no other reason than that is the role he will assume for the Atlanta Falcons. And with the more aggressive style of play out of the Rams secondary, we can infer that the had plenty to say over the Rams defensive backs. But without a clearer definition that distinguished his role from Rams Secondary Coach Chris Beake, or from that of Rams Defensive Backs Coach/Pass Game Coordinator Aubrey Pleasant. inference is as far as I can take it.

The truth is that while I know how effective Jimmy Lake has been in previous roles, I have no direct way of knowing how much of an impact he made on the LA Rams organization in 2023.

DC Raheem Morris

While many LA Rams fans have applauded the recent hiring of LA Rams Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris, the truth is that Morris was a coordinator that truly played the hand dealt to him better than many realize, and certainly far better than many of us have given him credit for.

Let's revisit his past accomplishments: He was a key individual in the LA Rams success in winning Super Bowl LVI for the city of Los Angeles, California. If you recall, the Rams entered the 2022 NFL Playoffs without starting safeties Jordan Fuller or Taylor Rapp. It was Morris who lured veteran safety Eric Weddle out of his two-year retirement to return to the Rams roster in time to play and eventually lead the Rams secondary.

But perhaps an even greater risk was starting seldom played safety Nick Scott. It was Scott's hit against San Francisco 49ers WR/RB Deebo Samuel that crumpled Samuel like a paper doll, and changed the entire momentum in that NFC Championship Game in the Rams favor.

Raneem Morris was a defensive coordinator who knew that the defense would not get the same attention from the Rams front office like the offense would. In 2021, the LA Rams led into the draft by selecting WR Tutu Atwell with the 52nd overall pick. In 2022, the Rams entered the draft by selecting IOL Logan Bruss with the 104th overall pick. In 2023 the Rams opened the draft by selecting IOL Steve Avila with the 36th overall pick.

Per OverTheCap.,com, the Rams positional spending over the past five NFL seasons has been, and is projected to be:

With the exception of 2022, the LA Rams have been among the bottom three teams in the NFL in terms of defensive spending over the past four seasons. So what was the anomaly in 2022? In 2022, the LA Rams paid over $58 million to three defensive players: DT Aaron Donald ($27 million), DB Jalen Ramsey ($23 million) and OLB Leonard Floyd ($8 million). The Rams were also on the hook for nearly $10 million paid to DT A'Shawn Robinson, as well as the rest of the Rams roster on the defensive side of the football.

In retrospect, Rams fans should be less disturbed over how DC Raheem Morris was unable to motivate the Rams defense to play better, and be a bit more appreciative over how the guy was able to coach up the 30th paid defense to win Super Bowl LVi, and how that same defensive coordinator was able to motivate the least paid defense in the NFL to earn the sixth-seed berth in the 2024 NFL Playoffs.

Clearly, the Atlanta Falcons football organization realizes how effective the man was at turning water into wine in terms of NFL salary dollars.

So, does anyone else see the projected disparity in the projected positional spending of the LA Rams in 2024? At the bare minimum, I see a need for the Rams to shave about $30-40 million from the payroll on the offensive side of the football, and spend about that much on the defensive side of the football. Perhaps that is a topic for another day.

The Rams have been lulled into some bad spending habits with DC Raheem Morris' ability to 'make do' with whatever the Rams front office spends and sends to the defense. But with Morris gone, can the Rams count on the Rams defense to remain effective with so little investment?

Patriots loading up on Rams coaches?

If you have been tallying up the exodus of Rams coaches to this point, you find that the Rams have lost one coordinator and three coaches so far. But it's not over, not by a long shot. To that point, two more Rams coaches continue to be interviewed, and both are in the queue of New England Patriots new HC Jerod Mayo.

Rams TE Coach Nick Caley is interviewing with the Patriots for thei vacant offensive coordinator position, while Rams Assistant ST Coach Jeremy Spring is interviewing for the Patriots vacant ST coordinator role

Nick Caley must have impressed the Patriots so far, as they are rumored to have requested a second interview.

Caley has deep ties with the New England Patriots. Before joining the Rams coaching staff in 2023, he was the tight end coach of the Patriots for six seasons. Mayo worked with him on the Patriots coaching staff, and clearly admires what he did for the Patriots over that time. In one season with the LA Rams coaching staff, his thumb print is all over the addition and promising NFL career of rookie TE Davis Allen. While seeing little action, just 192 offensive snaps, Allen caught 10 of 11 passes for 95 yards, one touchdown, and seven first downs.

The Rams also signed two tight ends to Reserve/Future contracts in TE Miller Forristall and TE Nikola Kalinic. Clearly, Caley has had success in coaching up his players.

While many view the Rams 2023 performance at special teams to be disappointing, Springer was hired to the Rams coaching staff in 2022 and helped to oversee a pretty solid season from kicker Matt Gay and veteran punter Riley Dixon.

Springer has a rich background with Special Teams units in collegiate football, and that could be the leverage that the Patriots are seeking in their ST Coordinator for 2024.

UPDATE as of 9:45 am PT on January 31, 2024

The LA Rams have lost assistant special teams coach coach Jeremy Spirnger to the Patroits.

Meanwhile, the Patriots are now rumored to be focusing on Nick Caley as their next OC.

And even LA Rams Pass Game Specialist Jake Peetz is getting interviewed:

Did I mention the fact that Rams LB Coach Chris Shula is interviewing with the Miami Dolphins to fill their vacant DC role?

Yes, the LA Rams and Rams HC Sean McVay has a tremendous track record for attracting some of the nation's top football coaching talent, and there is no reason to believe that will not be the case this year. But, at the same time, I would not enter the 2024 offseason believing that the Rams can match the quality of departing coaches, or even upgrade the quality of coaches at those positions.

The Rams have some huge shoes to fill. Unfortunately, I expect the number of coaches to be hired elsewhere to grow before it's all over.