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Los Angeles Rams: Mutual Parting with Aaron Kromer ‘didn’t start out that way’

By Blaine Grisak of DowntownRams

The Los Angeles Rams “mutually” parted ways with offensive line coach Aaron Kromer. The mutual parting with Kromer ‘didn’t start out that way’


The Los Angeles Rams surprised the fan base when they decided to “mutually part ways” with Aaron Kromer. Kromer is largely credited for the team’s turnaround on the offensive line from 2016 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2020. Players like Austin Blythe and David Edwards developed nicely under Kromer’s coaching.

In a mailbag piece from The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue, the parting may not have been as mutual as it was made out to be. Said Rodrigue:

While a team spokesman characterized the breakup as “mutual,” my understanding is that it didn’t start out that way. The sense I got from team sources was that it was time to split the father-son dynamic on the staff (Kromer’s son, Zak, is an offensive assistant for the Rams) … The conversation that led to the mutual parting was described to me as “not contentious in any way.”

This is an interesting dynamic. By the sounds of it, McVay wanted to split up Kromer and his son Zak. It sounds like Kromer maybe took the bullet for his son, knowing that he would be able to land somewhere else pretty quickly. It still seems odd considering the success that Aaron Kromer had in Los Angeles and on McVay’s staff.

The Rams ended up hiring Stanford offensive line coach Kevin Carberry as Kromer’s replacement. Prior to Stanford, Carberry and McVay worked on the same coaching staff for Washington in 2016. In DC, Carberry served as the assistant offensive line coach while McVay was the offensive coordinator.

It will be interesting to see how the change pays off. McVay seemed to hire a lot of guys that he was familiar with this offseason. Doing that doesn’t seem to work out all that often in the NFL. Carberry had success in the run game at Stanford and will look to implement his schemes into the Rams offense.