How new head coach Brandon Staley will benefit quarterback Justin Herbert

“It’s hard for me to justify hiring a defensive-minded head coach. I just think it’s a higher bar to be a good team every year, year after year. talking to him and thinking of him – – and him as a teacher, as a communicator, as a football thinker, all of those things – he’s the guy I would bet on as a defensive coach. because of the conceptual ways he built this Rams defense and how that defense was almost an expression of his value system around football and the way he thinks about the sport.

“… He’s not just a defensive coordinator who has a ton of good talent, uses guys in familiar ways and drives that talent to success. Obviously the Rams had Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, but some of the stuff that they were doing schematically was on the edges, really pushed some of those things further than any other defensive coordinator in the NFL.

“So I think a guy who thinks on the cutting edge and as progressive as Brandon Staley is, is the one area where I would be like, ‘You know what? I would be willing to take a momentum on the defensive coordinator or a defensive coach here just because I think things are a little different.

“Bill Belichick still needed some really good offenses to win consistently every year. But I also think the Belichick comparison – although I’m not trying to say that Brandon Staley is Bill Belichick – one of the strengths the Patriots had all One season is that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick would sit down every week, several times, and explain how the defenses were going to try to attack Tom Brady. And they had the best guy in the world over there to explain the the ins and outs, out and intricacies of the defense for him.

“I would have to assume that Brandon Staley would be able to do something similar with Justin Herbert over the course of his career. If they could have a dialogue or communication where Staley neglects defense, obviously and that’s his domain, but in at the same time … time is able to say, “Okay, that’s what they’re trying to do to you. When they do that, that’s what they’re trying to do. “And I think understanding the defensive rules is one of the most important parts of offensive training. And Brandon Staley fully understands the defensive rules, and he understands the offensive side as well, because he’s a former quarterback who spent a lot of time on that side of the ball.

“I just think, again, it’s hard to thread a needle where I would like to hire a defensive-minded head coach in 2021. It’s my personal way of looking at it. But I think that if you wanted one, it ticks all the boxes you would like someone to check. “