Wade Phillips has a history of quickly making defenses great

Good news, Rams fans: Wade Phillips has a history of quickly making defenses great

Hiring Phillips to improve a team's defense has immediately worked out many, many times before

By Will Brinson


Despite an offseason that qualifies as more or less successful, the Rams are being largely ignored as a potential sleeper team to make a leap in the NFC. Some projections are real down on Los Angeles, with SportsLine's computer system pegging them for a paltry four wins for the year and the worst record in the NFL.

There is reason for pessimism, particularly on offense, where Jared Goff, despite his lofty status as a first-round pick in 2016, remains an unknown at the quarterback position. Drafting Cooper Kupp was one of our favorite moves, but can an offense with Tavon Austin, Robert Woods and Kupp support Goff? Those are uninspiring top targets relative to the rest of the league. Adding Andrew Whitworth should pay big dividends. It's not unreasonable to expect a bounceback year in a new (read: not Jeff Fisher's) system from Todd Gurley, who looked like a top-five NFL running back in his rookie season.

Defensively is where things get very interesting though. The Rams didn't make a ton of changes in terms of personnel on that side of the ball -- adding Connor Barwin in free agency, retaining Trumaine Johnson and picking up some intriguing draft picks like Josh Johnson, Samson Ebukam and Ejuan Price are the only moves of note -- but they did make a drastic change at defensive coordinator by hiring Wade Phillips.

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