Mike LaFleur (Offensive Coordinator)...Only the Rams would hire a guy who oversaw a team scoring like 15 points in his last two games, however, LaFleur does have an aptitude to improve the run game plus in New York was saddled with a rookie QB that appears to be struggling in so many areas, this is who McVay wanted, so let's hope LaFleur can make life easier for McVay.
Ryan Wendell (Offensive Line)...Really would love to know what went on between McVay & former OL Coach Aaron Kromer because McVay kept his son Zak on staff and now has hired his understudy as the new OL Coach in Wendell plus promoting Zak to Assistant OL Coach to assist him. Anyways Wendell is a former player plus played Center for several years so hopefully he can ignite a unit that not only suffered major injuries across the board, but need to enforce their will more on the opposition becoming more physical at the point of attack.
Nick Caley (Tight Ends)...This unit suffered last year because Thomas Brown was the position, but was called upon to coach up the RB's more because of the discourse with Ra'Shaad Samples, which in turn gave Zak Kromer an opportunity to assist and led to his promotion to the offensive line. Fans of the Patriots were not fans of Caley because they felt they did not see their TE's doing much even though there was some talent with Hunter Henry & Jonnu Smith. Regardless Caley has plenty of experience coaching this unit and one can only hope it should be an upgrade by default.
Ron Gould (Running Backs)...Happy to have Coach Gould as the Rams were rebuffed by Texas RB Coach Tashard Choice & UCLA RB Coach DeShaun Foster. Gould brings a wealth of experience plus was a Head Coach in college too at UC Davis. Again this should give the Rams a leg up in the room based on Gould's experience and stellar reputation, with hope he can also provide input on a draft choice, if the Rams go in that direction.
Joe Coniglio (Outside Linebackers)...Love this hire because for one, he was McVay's roommate in college and even looks somewhat like him. Played DE/OLB at Miami of Ohio (The Cradle of Coaches) has coached at Rhode Island, Kent State & most recently Navy. Seems like he will bring some great energy to a unit that needs more production for the defense to be successful.
Aubrey Pleasant (Defensive Backs)...Reunited & feels so good, Pleasant seemed to be an assistant on the rise when he left the Rams to go to Detroit to coach the Lions and add Passing game coordinator to his title, but Pleasant proved Thomas Wolfe right that you can't go home again. Something went awry in Detroit as the Lion secondary was very bad, however, after relieving Pleasant of his duties the Lions secondary was vastly improved. Could have been injuries, but Pleasant an excellent DB Coach with the Rams and has been welcome back with open arms.
Jimmy Lake (Secondary)...My favorite addition due to the fact that at the collegiate level, Lake coached & coordinated aggressive defenses that were always in the upper echelon statistically. Was with DC Raheem Morris back in his Tampa days, so now that Morris has improved Secondary coaches, his unit hopefully be more aggressive then laying back in that soft zone.
Now I'm sure next week, the Rams will make the formal announcement of the staff overall, but I wanted to put some of the new hires under the microscope with hope that McVay now has another great staff in place for success in 2023.
