Miami Dolphins to interview former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley for defensive coordinator position
The Miami Dolphins could end up bringing a familiar face from the last two years over to their own sideline. According to Brandon Liguori from Pro Football Network, the Dolphins will be interviewing former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator for the team's open defensive coordinator position. Before taking the Chargers' head coaching vacancy before the […]
The Miami Dolphins could end up bringing a familiar face from the last two years over to their own sideline.
According to Brandon Liguori from Pro Football Network, the Dolphins will be interviewing former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator for the team's open defensive coordinator position.
Before taking the Chargers' head coaching vacancy before the 2021 season, Staley served as defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. He helped shape the Rams' defense into one of the best in the NFL in his one season before heading to the other Los Angeles franchise to become its head coach.
Staley spent the three years prior to his time with the Rams under recently departed former Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. He served as outside linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears and later the Denver Broncos with Fangio from 2017 to 2019. Fangio was the defensive coordinator of the Bears from 2015-2018 and head coach of the Broncos from 2019-2021.
As such, it's no surprise that Staley's system has some similarities to Fangio's in that it focuses more on a zone-heavy scheme. With the Rams, he utilized a split safety secondary significantly more often than Cover 1 or Cover 3. Per Pro Football Focus, his defense in 2020 finished third in the league in fewest yards per carry (3.8%) and fourth in rate of explosive runs allowed of 10+ yards (9.7%) despite operating largely out of a secondary alignment that's designed to help address the pass.
Before their season-opening matchup (won by the Dolphins 36-34), Mike McDaniel had some complimentary words for Staley regarding his knack for making things challenging offensively.
Staley clearly has the respect of his colleagues, and while he was an understudy of Fangio for several years, that doesn't mean that the issues that existed with Fangio and were complained of by players will be any kind of issue with Staley. Those complaints appeared to stem more from issues with Fangio himself than with his system as a whole.
Regardless, the Dolphins are taking a closer look at a coach who's shown he can produce one of the best defenses in the NFL. That's never a bad thing.
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