Time for concerns? Rams rumored to lose another coach. What can NFL do to fix this?

The LA Rams are once again the hottest coaching incubator for the NFL, and the results of that prestigious reputation have once again resulted with an unthinkable number of coaching losses. At this point in time, the Rams have lost 10 coaches outright. But, due to the promotion of former LB Coach Chris Shula, the Rams have and will be tasked with refilling 11 vacancies.

For a team that began the season with a record of 3-6, and had amassed a record of 8-18 over the previous games leading up to their Week 10 BYE, this is becoming quite difficult to wrap my head around. If you compare the losses to the other 2024 NFL Playoff teams, the Rams were surely hit the hardest by the lure of other NFL teams dangling promotions to coaches.

Of course, the loss of DC Raheem Morris triggered the defection of six other staff members to join Morris as he sets up his new coaching staff with the Atlanta Falcons. But even with looking past those seven coaches, the Rams have now lost three additional coaches to other football programs.

The latest loss is now rumored to be pass game specialist Jake Peetz, who will reportedly join the Seattle Seahawks as their new pass game coordinator.

Jake Peetz has enjoyed a robust coaching career of 13 years, and has held numerous coaching titles along the way. He has worked in five different NFL organizations, the Jacksonville Jaguars (5 years), Washington Commanders (Redskins) (1 year), Oakland Raiders (3 years), Carolina Panthers (2 years), and the most recent two years with the LA Rams. At the collegiate level, he worked for football programs as UCLA (2 years), Alabama (twice for 1 year apiece), and LSU (1 year) as well.

If you want to get a 'feel' for Jake Peetz, I heartily recommend checking out this video link from the Carolina Panthers analyzing QB Teddy Bridgewater's performance. Peetz played an integral part in the Rams' offensive strategy, planning, and execution. And it's that attention to detail and his matter-of-fact delivery that has aided the solid execution on the football field.

Peetz is the latest coaching loss, but this is an ideal time to review the entire coaching losses, and try to mix and match rumored interviews and hires with vacated roles.

Summing up Rams coaching staff losses

1. Summing up the coaching losses paints a dire picture for Rams
2. Options NFL has to correct this lopsided depletion of Rams coaching staff
3. Option III: Limit a team's number of coaches hired from another team
4. Option II: Compensate team's past a certain number of coaches lost with awarded comp picks
5. Option I: Allow teams that lose a high percentage of coaches to follow new head coach schedules for OTAs/Training camp

Summing up the coaching losses paints a dire picture for Rams

No, the sky is not falling for the LA Rams football team. But the sheer number of coach losses makes an impact by the sheer number of new faces that will be joining the team's staff. The team has an opportunity to find new rising stars among the coaching ranks, and that has served the team's ability to recruit and hire new coaches well.

But it comes at a price. Perhaps the greatest lure to joining this coaching staff is the near certainty that a promotion awaits the coach in the near future. Of course, some coaches love their role with the Rams and are more than content to return to a new season and all of the challenges that come with a new NFL season.

But this is no longer the same coaching staff who led the team to a Super Bowl LVI victory. Of the head coach and coordinators from 2021, only HC Sean McVay remains. Of the position coaches, only Assistant Coach Zak Kromer and WR Coach Eric Yarber remain, On the defensive side of the ball, only LB Coach (now DC) Chris Shula remains. Count them, four coaches from the 21 coaches on staff for Super Bowl LVI.

That is a devastating rate of turnover. So let's look over the new churning of coaches from the Rams organization:

*1 LA Rams rumored to have interviewed Greg Williams for LB vacancy
*2 LA Rams rumored to have hired ex-Titans Asst to Head Coach John Streicher in a new role

While there is a hope and perhaps a level of confidence in the team's ability to effectively replace all vacancies with outstanding new coaches, there is always a human element of risk that comes with a new coach in a new role for a new team. Of course, the LA Rams football organization has to be very experienced at this sort of thing, as they have had plenty of practice and experience in reforming a group of new coaches for a new NFL season.

Still, this all seems to be incredibly burdensome to the Rams organization, as many teams only reason to lose coaches is dismissal due to a failure to achieve desired objectives. Can the NFL do something to limit the mass exodus of Rams coaches to other football teams?

Options NFL has to correct this lopsided depletion of Rams coaching staff

I am not advocating an entirely new array of NFL rules and regulations to restrict or hinder the ability of coaches to seek and earn promotions in the NFL via other teams. But the NFL cannot turn a blind eye to the uneven burden placed on some teams that inevitably become the incubator of coaching candidates to be promoted to new roles on other teams.

I propose three different options to balance out the current burden imposed on the LA Rams each offseason. But these scenarios only apply to those coaches who are hired away, and do not apply if a team voluntarily parts ways with a coach. Nor does these options apply if a coach is traded by one team to another. So let's see what the NFL can do:

Option III: Limit a team's number of coaches hired from another team

This is the most radical option, and is therefore the least desirable option. In this scenario, one NFL team cannot hire more than a finite number of coaches directly from another team's coaching staff. While the number of coaches can be negotiated, I believe that a number should fall on or about three coaches from one team that can be lured to join another team.

That will allow sufficient number of hirings and promotions, but will also allow younger members of a team's coaching staff to be considered and promoted in the same system. That may not be an ideal solution, but I believe that it offers a much better option than watching teams like the LA Rams supply 10 coaches to other teams, and seven coaches to the newly formed coaching staff of the Atlanta Falcons.

Option II: Compensate team's past a certain number of coaches lost with awarded comp picks

While the NFL cannot award compensatory draft picks willy-nilly, I do believe that there is fertile enough ground to infuse coaching losses in a single coaching hiring cycle with some equitable form of weighting that allows for a method of awarding comp picks independently of the current Rooney Rule. What I mean by that is to weight coaching losses in the following categories:

The range of weights allows for years of experience with the team, and any scenario for a lower-ranking coach to fill the role with a new team. To achieve the maximum weight, the NFL could establish longevity tiers.

Once weights are assessed by the NFL, the NFL can assign compensatory picks in the same process as awarded compensatory picks are announced for free agency impacts. No team can receiver more than one coach comp pick, and only the highest tier of teams that suffer the most losses can receive a pick as a result. The round of the awarded coach compensatory pick is defined by the weighted score of coaching losses. The NFL can further limit a compensatory pick ceiling, so that the pick cannot exceed a third-round comp pick.

Option I: Allow teams that lose a high percentage of coaches to follow new head coach schedules for OTAs/Training camp

NFL teams with a new head coach are permitted to begin offseason workout programs on April 1, 2024. Teams that have retained their head coach must wait until April 15 to begin their offseason workout programs. But that binary categorization treats all teams with the same head coach identically, no matter how many coordinators or positional coaches are new.

I believe that is the wrong approach. Teams that lose two or more coordinators but retain the same head coach should be permitted to start their offseason workout programs 10 days earlier than other teams, and four days after teams with new head coaches. In this scenario, that would allow those teams to begin offseason workout programs on April 5, 2024

Teams that lose one coordinator and two or more positional coaches should be permitted to start their offseason workout programs a week sooner, or in this scenario on April 8, 2024.

While this is only a minor concession, it does allow extra time for players to meet and familiarize themselves with new coaches, and new philosophies, strategies, tactics, and roles that come with a new group of coaches.

None of the three options proposed above in a perfect solution, and is not intended to be. It's simply an attempt to convert the current situation that unintentionally and adversely penalizes the LA Rams football team into a more equitable solution for all NFL teams. In the process, it not only does not hinder the avenues of coaching promotions, but could ultimately encourage it.