Wade Phillips to Rams as defensive coordinatorPosted by Josh Alper on January 12, 2017, 10:01 PM EST
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The Rams will be balancing out the league’s youngest head coach with a very experienced defensive coordinator.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Wade Phillips will be running the defense for Sean McVay in Los Angeles. There was a report that Phillips was McVay’s preferred choice as defensive coordinator before McVay was hired by the Rams.
Phillips ran the defense in Denver for the last two years and won the first Super Bowl of his long career thanks to an overwhelming effort by his unit.
In addition to his long list of defensive coordinator stints, Phillips has been a head coach on six occasions with one of them — an interim tour with the Saints in 1985 — coming before McVay was even born. That knowledge of the NFL would help any head coach, but Phillips should be particularly beneficial to a young one who comes from an offensive background.
McVay worked with Phillips’ son Wes with the Redskins. The younger Phillips is that team’s tight ends coach and the team was interested in interviewing his father, but will now have to look elsewhere to replace Joe Barry.
