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Chris Beake

Rams Finalize 2024 Coaching Staff

February 25th, 2024 at 9:00pm CST by Ely Allen

The Rams were one of several teams forced to reconstruct their coaching staff this offseason. While it’s always a challenge to replace staff, the Rams aren’t doing it because they needed to fire anybody, they’re simply replacing coaches who moved on to bigger jobs. Head coach Sean McVay is doing what he’s done year after year, bringing in a new staff that is sure to flourish under his tutelage.

On offense, we were already aware of the hires of quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone to replace Zac Robinson, senior offensive assistant Jerry Schuplinski, and offensive assistant and pass game specialist Nate Scheelhaase, though the “offensive assistant” part of that title is new information.

In addition, since the departed Robinson had held the title of pass-game coordinator, that moniker has transferred to tight ends coach Nick Caley. Lastly, with offensive assistants K.J. Black and Nick Jones following Robinson and former defensive coordinator Raheem Morris to Atlanta, Los Angeles has brought in former Jets quarterbacks coach Rob Calabrese as a new offensive assistant. Calabrese takes a step back after spending three years in his first NFL position coaching job.

The defensive side of the ball is where the most change will commence, since Morris departed to become the next head coach of the Falcons. We have already reported on Giff Smith‘s replacement of Eric Henderson as defensive line coach and run game coordinator and the hiring of former Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai as a senior defensive assistant, as well as the departure of assistant head coach Jimmy Lake, who left to become Morris’ defensive coordinator in Atlanta.

Los Angeles’ update informed us on some pending information for the rest of the defensive staff. First, we had heard that former Packers pass-game coordinator Greg Williams had interviewed for the Rams inside linebackers coaching job, and now we know that he has officially been hired for the role, replacing Chris Shula following his promotion to defensive coordinator. Formerly the secondary coach, Chris Beake‘s official title has been altered to safeties coach, and while assistant defensive line coach AC Carter interviewed for the position that went to Smith after Henderson’s exit, Carter will simply remain in his current role. Additionally, outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio, defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant, and defensive assistant Mike Harris have all been retained by Shula in their current roles.

Lastly, on special teams, the Rams hired Chili Davis as assistant special teams coach to replace Jeremy Springer, who departed to become special teams coordinator in New England. Davis will take his first NFL job after coaching for the last 11 years in various college gigs. Most recently, he served as special teams coordinator at Florida A&M in 2022 before going to Manhattan to serve as Kansas State’s special teams quality control coach. Also, on the coaching staff, John Streicher has been brought on board to serve as game management coordinator. Streicher spent the last six seasons in Tennessee, most recently serving as the Titans director of football administration.

There you have it: the 2024 coaching staff for the Rams. McVay is certainly used to shuffling his staff at this point in his career in Los Angeles. He was able to rebound from a rough 2022 season to get back to the playoffs, and with this new staff, he’ll try to get back to the pinnacle of the sport after winning it all in 2021.

NFC West Coaching Updates: Rams, Kubiak, Cardinals

March 26th, 2023 at 8:25pm CST by Ely Allen

The Rams announced that they’ve finalized their coaching staff for the 2023 season earlier this month, according to Rams staff writer Stu Jackson. We covered a number of the changes from 2022 already, but below are the ones we have yet to cover.

With the departure of Thomas Brown, who will be calling plays for the Panthers in 2023, head coach Sean McVay had an opening for a new assistant head coach. We heard last month that the team added Jimmy Lake to the staff, but we didn’t have details on his role. It turns out that he will be replacing Brown as the Rams assistant head coach.

On offense, the biggest change we have yet to cover is the addition of Ron Gould as the team’s new running backs coach. After allowing Ra’Shaad Samples to depart for a college position, the Rams went and poached Gould away from San Diego State a month after Gould was named the associate head coach and running backs coach for the Aztecs. He spent the last six years coaching running backs at Stanford. Additionally, two assistants received promotions this offseason. Jake Peetz, who was an offensive assistant last year has been given the new title of pass game specialist. Kenneth Black, last year’s coaching fellow in Los Angeles, will fill Peetz’s previous role of offensive assistant.

Los Angeles made two new additions to the defensive staff. They hired Joe Coniglio to coach outside linebackers in 2023. Coniglio played a similar role for Navy last season. The other addition is Andrew Carter, who will be the new assistant defensive line coach after the departure of Skyler Jones. Carter was a defensive quality control coach for the Broncos last year.

Additionally, the Rams’ defensive staff saw a rare swap occur. Chris Shula, who served last year as the team’s pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach, will spend 2023 as the inside linebackers coach/pass rush coordinator. Last year’s inside linebackers coach, Chris Beake, will now coach defensive backs.

Here are some other staff changes in the NFC West:

  • We heard last month that the 49ers added Klint Kubiak to their staff in an unnamed role. The team recently announced that Kubiak will serve as San Francisco’s offensive passing game specialist in 2023. The 49ers also announced the hires of Jacob Webster as defensive quality control coach and Max Molz as coaching operations assistant. Both are making their NFL-debuts with Webster coming from Wisconsin as a graduate assistant and Molz serving as the associate director of football operations at Missouri last year.
  • The Cardinals hired some personnel help for new general manager Monti Ossenfort earlier this week, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. Arizona is bringing in Rob Kisiel to a pro personnel department executive position. Kisiel has been a pro scout for the Falcons for the last two seasons and previously served as director of pro personnel for the Texans.

NFL Coaching Notes: Rams Complete Staff, Colts Hire QC

April 17th, 2022 at 7:31pm CST by Ely Allen

The Rams put the finishing touches on their 2022 coaching staff, announcing the completion earlier this month. Along with many other promotions and hires that we’ve already reported on this site, the following staff changes were unveiled:

  • Thad Bogardus, who served last season as the assistant linebackers coach, was promoted to outside linebackers coach. He previously spent the 2020 season as assistant defensive line coach, a promotion after serving previously as assistant defensive line/defensive quality control coach.
  • Lance Schulters, who spent last season as a coaching fellow, earned a promotion to defensive assistant for the upcoming season. Schulters is a former NFL safety with 19 career interceptions to his name. He started his coaching career as a defensive assistant for the Falcons in 2020.
  • Chris Shula, who oversaw linebackers last year, will now serve as pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach for Los Angeles. Shula has worked with the Rams’ linebackers in some capacity since 2017, debuting in the NFL as a defensive quality control coach in San Diego after bouncing around a few college jobs.
  • Chris Beake was hired as the Rams’ new inside linebackers coach after nine seasons in Denver. After holding a variety of roles on the Broncos staff, he spent his final season there as the defensive pass game specialist.
  • Kenneth Black was brought on as a coaching fellow for the Rams this season. Black spent the last two years as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for Florida A&M.
  • Skyler Jones was hired as assistant defensive line coach. Jones spent seven seasons coaching at the college level, most recently in the role of defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Norfolk State.
  • Jeremy Springer was brought on in the role of special teams assistant. Springer has been a special teams coordinator at the college football level for the last four years, spending last year at Marshall and the previous three seasons with Arizona.

The Colts also announced a hire at the end of the month from the college level: