Where do the LA Rams stand in terms of coaching staff today?

The LA Rams coaching staff is finally beginning to take shape, and I for one love the direction that the team is taking in their new hires. The Rams are not a traditional type of team, and so the traditional set of big NFL coaching names that are instantly recognizable do not hold the same appeal to me that it may for others. The Rams strength is the ability to not only scheme effectively, but to coach up raw but talented prospects into NFL-caliber professional football players. That calling is not easily found, and only a small portion of NFL coaches can seamlessly toggle between the two very different but very critical roles.

It was the development, the ability to enhance the skillsets and techniques of the team's huge number of young players that seemed to stall the Rams roster in 2022. Never before in the span of Sean McVay's career had the team simply given up and released so many young players in the middle of an NFL season while they were still under contract, and some had even started for the Rams prior to their release.

The Rams cleaned house, so to speak, with the release of a number of positional coaches that began before the season ended with the parting of ways with RB Coach Ra'Shaad Samples and reports that former Rams OC Liam Coen had accepted the opportunity to return as the OC of the University of Kentucky football team, just one year after leaving that role to become the LA Rams offensive coordinator. So the LA Rams, despite minimal poaching of the coaching staff compared to other years, is still a work in progress.

The post-Super Bowl Rams faced the worst of both worlds. Not only were their coordinators and coaches coveted by other NFL teams, but the Rams were among the last teams to begin the interview process due to the late post-season play and last minute attrition of coaches taking promotions to coach elsewhere. That pushed the LA Rams into the realm of forcing promotions from among the staff, or in the case of several roles, cross training effective positional coaches at one position to coach a new position. While that strategy can be quite effective in isolated situations, the Rams attempted to cross train a number of coaches into new roles, and the results were less than satisfactory.

That showed up throughout the season as young players who had once shown promise seemed to regress across the Rams roster. And it was not just due to injuries. Rather the young talented players who occupied a roster spot seemed to show little progress when the time came for them to shine for the team as they were entrusted with significant playing time. And the story was the same, from edge rushers, defensive backs, tight ends, running backs, and even to offensive linemen. The Rams, a team that was built upon developing young talent to balance the Rams payroll for elite players, was beginning to crumble from the bottom up.