Here’s den-the-coach...
As many of us sit on the cusp of Christmas Eve and get ready for a showdown with the Tennessee Titans who were responsible for giving the Rams the opportunity to draft Jared Thomas Goff, I thought it would be fun to discuss who many felt was the top Assistant Coach of the year....And I realize that Wade Phillips has been amazing, not just for his schemes, but the esprit de corps he has help McVay build in the locker room and also because of Wade being on board, the Rams were able to add other quality defensive assistants like CB Coach Aubrey Pleasant for example, who could have stayed in Washington, but wanted to come to Los Angeles for the Opportunity of working under Wade so I don't want to take away from Wade's impact, but IMO, for Assistant Coach of the year, I'm going in another direction.
Offensive Line Coach Aaron Kromer....All of us knew this was a crucial hire as the Rams had been under only two Offensive Line Coaches since 2006, that being Paul Boudreau & Steve Loney. That's right Scott Linehan hired Bourdreau in his first year, then fired him for Loney the following season. Although the offensive line had issues, new Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo in 2009 shockingly kept Loney on and in 2012 Jeff Fisher hired Paul Boudreau so in essence the Rams have only had two Offensive Line Coaches since 2006 and in most cases they were forgettable years.
Sean McVay reached out to the Miami Dolphins for permission to hire their Offensive Line Coach Chris "snuff" Foerster to be OC/OL Coach much in the fashion that Bill Callahan has with the Redskins, it seems the Dolphins did the Rams a huge favor denying permission so the Rams had to look in another direction. The Buffalo Bills had let their staff go and thankfully on that staff was one of the renown Offensive Line Coaches in the Game Aaron Kromer, now Kromer did come with some beach chair baggage, however, coming to Los Angles seemed like a perfect fit because people don't steal beach chairs in L.A., because you can purchase them year round.
Kromer had built stellar offensive lines at every stop, New Orleans, Chicago & Buffalo and most of us on this board were clamoring for his appointment, some had reservations, however, there was no debating his accomplishments and the wunderkind Sean McVay realized the golden opportunity in hiring one of the games best so Kromer was brought on board with his son Zak as Offensive Quality Control and the Rams kept Assistant OL Coach Andy Dickerson.
Aaron Kromer faced quite a task rebuilding a unit that rated last in the NFL, there was the Greg Robinson conundrum combined with finding a center that could actually hold up at the point of attack. Kromer quickly determine that the Rams should cut bait with Robinson who was traded to the Detroit Lions for a 6th round selection, many felt the Lions committed highway robbery, however, it appears now that Kromer was correct as Robinson is now on IR after he was benched and not active for the Lions, second verse same as the first.
Kromer played musical chairs with Rob Havenstein and Jamon Brown, but finally settled on Brown at Guard and Havenstein at RT, where they seemed most comfortable also the signing of LT Andrew Whitworth made Kromer's job much easier as Whitworth has been the best free agent signing in Ram history along with Center John Sullivan and now the unit with Rodger Saffold entrenched at LG this unit was now ready to perform at a top level and Kromer has had his unit ready week in and week out and last week the holes by the offensive line, led by Saffold blocking two players at once to spring Gurley for his 57 yard scamper putting the Los Angeles Rams up 34-0 at halftime sending many of the 12th man brigade home early was epic and is why I believe Aaron Kromer deserves this honor as the best Assistant Coach of the Los Angeles Rams this season!
Discuss amongst yourselves.
