Brandon Staley, Former Rams DC - New Chargers Head Coach

[ghost]

The Chargers are transitioning from a split safety Cover-3 zone to a two-high safety scheme.

Good Tweet on it's many pros and few cons. If you can't tackle well, you're not a fit in the scheme.

Allowing completions, but also rallying to the ball, also puts the receiver in-jeopardy of compression tackles, leveraged to create opportunities to challenge ball-security.

[BoltUp InLA]

This may have been posted already, here is an interesting article from the Athletic about current personnel versus Staley's defensive scheme..

Chargers Film Room: Where will pieces fit in Brandon Staley’s defensive scheme?

By Daniel Popper Feb 18, 2021
With their coaching staff now fully intact, the Chargers have started the process of creating, developing and implementing their schemes on offense and defense.

Earlier this offseason, we delved into what the offense could look like. As Justin Herbert said, it will be a “mix and match” of various concepts from various systems. There will be some carryover from what the Chargers did last season under Anthony Lynn. They will take some ideas from Sean Payton and the Saints, the team with which offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi spent 15 seasons as quarterbacks coach. And they will incorporate ideas from head coach Brandon Staley’s offensive assistants, who have worked with some of the elite offensive minds, from Kyle Shanahan to Matt LaFleur. Staley worked closely with Sean McVay last season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator.

Because of this melting-pot approach, we will not have a good grasp of the offensive system until we see the Chargers on the field. Defensively, though, there is plenty to glean from the Rams’ tape from last season. Staley’s defensive system was innovative, primarily in the way he used Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, his two best players. Under Staley’s command, the Rams allowed the fewest points per game of any defense in the league. And they finished No. 1 in the NFL in weighted DVOA, according to Football Outsiders, which means they were playing the best defense in the league over the final stretch of the season.

Staley is bringing that system to the Chargers, and it will look a lot different than the system Gus Bradley ran for four years. Philosophically speaking, Staley’s defense is virtually the polar opposite of Bradley’s. Staley believes in disguise, confusion and multitudes. Bradley believes in simplicity and precision. Bradley’s defense has a 4-3 base. Staley’s has a 3-4. Bradley relies on single-high safety looks. Staley prefers two-high safety looks. The list goes on.

But that does not mean the Chargers’ personnel won’t translate. The pieces the Chargers have will fit into Staley’s scheme and packages. A big reason for that: The Chargers have two All-Pro-level players in Joey Bosa and Derwin James. Another reason: Staley builds his defense around his players’ skill sets.

Let’s dive into some of the tape to see where the Chargers’ defensive pieces might fit. I started with the Rams-Seahawks playoff game, which was one of the Rams’ best defensive performances of the season.

First, we should dispel the myth that Staley exclusively runs a three-man front. That could not be further from the truth. Staley consistently changed up his fronts against Russell Wilson and the Seattle offense. Depending on the Seahawks’ personnel, down and distance, Staley showed three-man, four-man and even five-man fronts.

One interesting part is how flexible the substitutions are in Staley’s system. With Bradley, when the Chargers went to the nickel package (five defensive backs) or the dime package (six defensive backs), players at the same positions always left the field. In nickel, the sam linebacker was subbed out. In dime, the sam and will linebackers left, leaving only the mike linebacker on the field.

Staley, on the contrary, displayed many variations in nickel and dime. He went to those packages to match personnel when offenses sent out three or more receivers. The Rams were in nickel or dime more than 80 percent of the time last season, according to Sportradar. They were in nickel nearly 60 percent of the time. That is their most common package.

If offenses sent out multiple tight ends, the Rams were in their base package. And that looked like a typical 3-4 — three defensive linemen, two inside linebackers, two outside linebackers, two corners, two safeties.



But it is important to understand the Chargers will use that package infrequently.

And when Staley shifts to his nickel and dime packages, that is where he starts to get creative with his personnel and substitutions.

Here are some examples.

On one play against Seattle, the Rams kept two outside linebackers, one inside linebacker and three defensive linemen on the field, along with two boundary corners, a nickel/slot corner (NCB) and two safeties. The second inside linebacker was the player subbed out.



On a different play, Staley subbed out a defensive lineman — the nose tackle — to add the fifth defensive back.



He kept Donald and Michael Brockers in at defensive tackle. Outside linebackers Leonard Floyd and Justin Hollins took on defensive end roles. It was effectively a 4-3 nickel package with two high safeties.

Compare that to the Chargers’ nickel package last year, and it looks quite similar:



The only differences were that the Chargers’ strong safety, Rayshawn Jenkins, was in the box because they were showing a single-high safety look, and Bosa, who was at right end, had his hand in the dirt. Otherwise, there is a lot of overlap in the structure.

On another play in that Seahawks game, Staley took out one of the outside linebackers and replaced him with a defensive lineman. It was a variation of a five-man front, with four down linemen and one standing edge rusher. The fifth defensive back went on for the inside linebacker, and he was actually a third safety, Nick Scott, who is circled below. And strong safety John Johnson moved down to the line of scrimmage as a bigger, more physical nickel corner.



And here is yet another variation of the nickel package. The fifth defensive back entered for the outside linebacker, and the Rams had three down linemen, one edge rusher and two inside linebackers.



This formation, too, looks really similar to the Chargers’ 4-3 nickel package.

Staley also did a lot of interesting stuff with his dime packages.

At times, he would have all his inside linebackers leave the field. That left three down linemen, two outside linebackers and six defensive backs. Johnson would drop down and fill a linebacker/dimebacker role while a third safety, Scott, subbed on to complete the two-high shell.



They also showed a more traditional 4-3 dime package in that same game, with four down linemen, one inside linebacker and six defensive backs, with Johnson, again, moving into the box to fill that dimebacker role.



That all happened in one game, so you can begin to see how Staley’s philosophy materializes in the way he groups his personnel. The more he can vary his personnel packages, the more he can confuse opposing offenses pre-snap. And that includes mixing fronts among three, four and five players.

“Outside linebackers are really just edge players. Those guys are edge defenders,” Staley said earlier this month. “Most of the NFL is three wide receivers, so a lot of the time you’re in five-DB groupings, and so if you’re in a five-DB orchestration, then those edge players become defensive ends, and your ‘defensive ends’ in the 3-4 base world, they become defensive tackles. So you really got to break it down between inside players and edge players. And then you got a bunch of DBs that do a lot of jobs and then inside linebackers play behind the ball. (The) 3-4, to me, is just a way that your personnel is organized, but how that expresses itself on game day, what you actually activate, it’s probably not going to look like 3-4 at all.”

That is not even factoring in the myriad coverage disguises Staley implements after the snap, like showing Cover 2 and then rotating to Cover 3 once the ball is in the quarterback’s hands, which the Rams did occasionally. Diversions and confusion are part of the character and personality inherent in the scheme.

What does it mean for the Chargers’ players?

When asked about Bosa earlier this month, Staley said, “He’s going to be on the edge of our defense in a playmaking role. I think that the fact that he has a unique physical skill set allows you to have that versatility that we like to play with, because he can be on the edge of your defense as an outside pass rusher, and he can also be a little bit closer to the ball as an interior defensive lineman because he has the length and strength to be able to anchor, too. So I think he’s a guy that you can see being in a playmaking position for us, for sure.”

Staley also compared Bosa to Khalil Mack in terms of “body type.” Mack, of course, was an outside linebacker in the Bears’ scheme under Vic Fangio in 2017 and 2018 when Staley was their outside linebackers coach.

But it is crucial to remember that one of Staley’s greatest attributes as a coach is his willingness to adapt and adjust his scheme to his personnel. He will build a unique role for Bosa. He will not just try to slide him into the role that, say, Floyd filled for the Rams last season.

As an edge player, Bosa will rush from a standing position in certain packages. However, he is more comfortable rushing with his hand in the dirt, so Staley will also put him in those positions — in his “comfort zone,” as Staley said. As evident in the situations above, Staley ran plenty of four-man fronts in which Bosa could fit at a more traditional 4-3 defensive end spot.

James’ role will also be unique. In terms of comparisons, though, it seems he would fit into the role Johnson was filling last year for the Rams as the strong safety. Johnson played some deep safety. He played in the box. He played some linebacker. He blitzed. He covered tight ends. Those are all things James does well. Staley trusted Johnson to call the plays, and James is capable of doing the same thing, assuming the Chargers don’t make a run at Johnson in free agency.

But Staley will also find new ways to use James that we have not seen. That is where Staley is at his best — getting the most out of his elite players.

One interesting wrinkle Staley implemented midseason was the “star” package. He wanted to maximize Ramsey’s skill set so he created a package against the Giants that allowed Ramsey to play in the slot against Golden Tate. Previously, including with the Jaguars, Ramsey had been used exclusively as an outside corner. But the Giants’ best receiving weapon, Tate, played in the slot, so Staley adjusted his scheme to get the most out of Ramsey, who is circled below.



James, as it turned out, played the “star” role at Florida State, where he was Ramsey’s teammate. Could Staley cook up a package that allows James to play that role and defend the slot as a big nickel, like he did with Johnson in the Seahawks game? The Chargers could bring on Nasir Adderley as the second high safety next to Jenkins (assuming they re-sign him) and have some combination of Chris Harris, Michael Davis (assuming they re-sign him) and Casey Hayward at corner. That is an option. They can also play James at dimebacker in dime packages — the way Staley did with Johnson — and again have Adderley play as the second high safety alongside Jenkins. The possibilities are endless with James, as long as he can stay healthy.

Moving on with our personnel fit projections, Kenneth Murray and Drue Tranquill will be the two starting inside linebackers. Linval Joseph will play nose tackle. Justin Jones and Jerry Tillery will play defensive end in base and move to defensive tackle when Staley shows a four-man front. Uchenna Nwosu will play outside linebacker. And Staley has a stable of versatile defensive backs to rotate into different personnel packages.

The pieces are going to fit. And that is largely because Staley will mold his malleable and versatile scheme around what his players do well.

[foreigner]

is Brees thinking about being a HC at some point?

[BoltUp InLA]

And here is another article from PFF that is also about Staley's scheme and how some players might be used in it..

Multiple and Aggressive: How Brandon Staley will fit the Los Angeles Chargers' personnel into his scheme




Dec 30, 2018; Denver, CO, USA; Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa (99) reacts with cornerback Casey Hayward Jr. (26) and nose tackle Brandon Mebane (92) after a fumble recovery in the third quarter against the Denver Broncos at Broncos Stadium at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

By Diante Lee
Feb 1, 2021
Los Angeles Chargers
When a new defensive regime takes to a franchise, the conversation often centers around the idea of a change in the front. But now, after a season where 26 of 32 NFL teams played primarily out of nickel personnel, fans and analysts ought to put that conversation point to bed. This will be even more true with new Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, who constructs his defenses from the secondary in.

With that established, don’t be surprised if we hear reports from OTAs and training camp about Chargers players trying to adjust to a new approach to stopping offenses. After all, L.A.'s previous four seasons were spent under the imprint of Gus Bradley, running the single-high safety scheme that defined the last decade in Seattle and the best iteration of Jacksonville Jaguars football.

The Chargers played some variation of Cover 3 on 55.7% of their defensive snaps in 2020, compared to 35.2% for Staley’s Rams defense. And the disparity in approach only grows when looking at split-safety zone coverages, where the Rams (45% of snaps) dwarfed the Chargers (19%) by a 26-percentage-point margin.

Conventional wisdom suggests that teams play single-high defense to stop the run and split-safety defense to cover receiving threats. When defenses play Cover 1 and Cover 3, there will be one more defender in the box than the offense can block. In two-high looks, the defense is short one player in the box for the tradeoff of having a numbers advantage in coverage.

While there is some merit to this philosophy, the idea is incomplete. Despite playing more snaps in two-high looks than any team in the NFL, the Rams ranked third among the league's defenses in yards allowed per carry (3.8) and fourth in explosive run rate allowed (percentage of runs that gained 10 or more yards, 9.7%) in 2020. Bradley’s single-high-heavy defense ranked 16th (4.5) and 21st (14.0%) in those two metrics, respectively.

The conversation around Staley’s base 3-4 front becomes salient in the principles that inform the defense’s handling of its opponents' run schemes. The odd front calls for the down linemen to take on linemen square and force the offense to move laterally. Unlike playing with four-down fronts, this isn’t conducive to generating negative plays in the run game, evidenced by the Rams' 26th-place finish in tackles for loss or no gain (54).



Proficiently fitting the run out of split safeties requires defensive backs to get involved in making up for the light box. While single-high defenses can line up with the knowledge that all gaps are covered no matter what, two-high teams must be precise in getting the unblocked defender involved where the offense is trying to send the ball.

In nickel personnel, Staley gets run fits akin to what you’d expect out of base fronts by having his deep safety come off the roof and into the box. The front and the secondary structure in conjunction become a modern take on “bending without breaking.”

Against the San Francisco 49ers, the Rams gave a 3-3-5 presentation to the offense and fit this outside-zone run like a 3-4 defense, with safety Taylor Rapp adding in late. Not only does this run fit neutralize the run action, but the defense also keeps the three-over-two advantage away from the run, which dissuades RPOs and eliminates difficult single-coverage scenarios on crossing routes via play action.



This is not exclusive to 3-4 run fits, but it is instrumental to understanding how Staley wants his defense to fit the run out of four-down fronts, as well.



To open the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Rams gave the offense a standard 4-2-5 nickel look pre-snap. Just as it played out against San Francisco, safety Jordan Fuller is the unblocked defender arriving late to the run fit. The base 4-3 run fit is achieved with the safety away from the initial run action to clean up the cutback.



Note right defensive end Michael Brockers’ alignment: inside shade of the tackle. Aligning in that 4i technique and fighting to keep inside leverage allows Brockers to execute what the Rams value most — the opposing team spilling the ball out to the unblocked defender.





When Staley anticipated the pass, he dug deeper into his bag of split-safety coverages and played “quarter-quarter-halves” at a league-leading 18.6% clip.

While every coverage has its holes, the Rams safeties did an excellent job of robbing over routes and deep crossers while the underneath defenders dropped in the windows for other intermediate throws. This drove them to finish first among defenses in yards allowed per pass attempt (6.2) and explosive pass play percentage allowed (10.0%)

In the example below, the Washington Football Team is running a variation of a ubiquitous concept: Y-Cross. The Rams are playing halves to the field and quarters to the boundary, and the distribution of the routes allows their zone-droppers to wall off in-breaking routes. After an underneath release from his immediate threat, Jordan Fuller looks for work coming back across the field and takes the throw that QB Alex Smith wants most. Jalen Ramsey, playing slot corner, zones off when his initial threat runs an over-route and settles underneath the dig route.



This takes away Smith’s secondary read, and he succumbs to the pass rush shortly after.



Not only does this coverage give the defense an easy answer for covering crossers, but it also simplifies coverage against bunches and stacks. In the clip below from the game against the San Francisco 49ers, not only is the skinny post covered, but the Rams also sorted out the switch releases coming out of the bunch and forced the check-down throw.



In the end, a scheme is only as good as its players, and the Chargers will have to make some important decisions on how to invest their money and draft capital this offseason.

A promising rookie campaign from Justin Herbert warrants addressing holes in the trenches, and picking at 13th overall likely leaves them crossing fingers that a player like Northwestern tackle Rashawn Slater slides. With the skill talent on offense already set, the rest of the focus on personnel should be given to the defensive secondary.

The Chargers' top three corners in coverage snaps, Michael Davis, Casey Hayward Jr. and Chris Harris Jr., earned PFF coverage grades of 62.9, 59.5 and 57.4, respectively, in 2020. That performance is a far cry from the marks earned by Jalen Ramsey (80.3), Troy Hill (75.7) and Darious Williams (79.6).

If Slater is off the board by the time the 13th pick comes around, it’s safe to assume that they will address the cornerback position by picking Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley or Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II. The rest of the defensive lineup is already well in place, with Joey Bosa and Uchenna Nwosu manning the edges, Linval Joseph and Justin Jones inside, Kyzir White and Kenneth Murray at linebacker and Derwin James returning for 2021. Rayshawn Jenkins has shown promise as a partner to James at safety and should be retained, and the front office may have to say a difficult goodbye to Melvin Ingram III so that they can address other team needs.

Some of the issues in defensive production will be helped by Staley’s approach to defense and better injury luck in 2021: expect less one-on-one coverage in the seams and better numbers against the run.

The last time the Chargers had a talented young QB and a defensive mind on the cutting edge of football, the franchise enjoyed a stretch that peaked with a 14-2 season. Heading into 2021, the blue and gold have to be hoping that the typical bad luck and heartbreak that always seems to derail potential success has retired along with Philip Rivers.

[ghost]

2020 Rams: Brandon Staley’s defense held teams to 3 points or less in the second half in 9 games during the regular season.

That is an amazing stat.

[wu-dai clan]

Diante Lee's very first PFF article, and a fantastic one at that.

ghost, this ties in with what we were discussing earlier.

Mix this with the Weekly Spiral takes, blend it up, and you got Staley magic.

[like54ninjas]

This may have been posted already, here is an interesting article from the Athletic about current personnel versus Staley's defensive scheme..

Chargers Film Room: Where will pieces fit in Brandon Staley’s defensive scheme?

By Daniel Popper Feb 18, 2021
With their coaching staff now fully intact, the Chargers have started the process of creating, developing and implementing their schemes on offense and defense.

Earlier this offseason, we delved into what the offense could look like. As Justin Herbert said, it will be a “mix and match” of various concepts from various systems. There will be some carryover from what the Chargers did last season under Anthony Lynn. They will take some ideas from Sean Payton and the Saints, the team with which offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi spent 15 seasons as quarterbacks coach. And they will incorporate ideas from head coach Brandon Staley’s offensive assistants, who have worked with some of the elite offensive minds, from Kyle Shanahan to Matt LaFleur. Staley worked closely with Sean McVay last season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator.

Because of this melting-pot approach, we will not have a good grasp of the offensive system until we see the Chargers on the field. Defensively, though, there is plenty to glean from the Rams’ tape from last season. Staley’s defensive system was innovative, primarily in the way he used Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, his two best players. Under Staley’s command, the Rams allowed the fewest points per game of any defense in the league. And they finished No. 1 in the NFL in weighted DVOA, according to Football Outsiders, which means they were playing the best defense in the league over the final stretch of the season.

Staley is bringing that system to the Chargers, and it will look a lot different than the system Gus Bradley ran for four years. Philosophically speaking, Staley’s defense is virtually the polar opposite of Bradley’s. Staley believes in disguise, confusion and multitudes. Bradley believes in simplicity and precision. Bradley’s defense has a 4-3 base. Staley’s has a 3-4. Bradley relies on single-high safety looks. Staley prefers two-high safety looks. The list goes on.

But that does not mean the Chargers’ personnel won’t translate. The pieces the Chargers have will fit into Staley’s scheme and packages. A big reason for that: The Chargers have two All-Pro-level players in Joey Bosa and Derwin James. Another reason: Staley builds his defense around his players’ skill sets.

Let’s dive into some of the tape to see where the Chargers’ defensive pieces might fit. I started with the Rams-Seahawks playoff game, which was one of the Rams’ best defensive performances of the season.

First, we should dispel the myth that Staley exclusively runs a three-man front. That could not be further from the truth. Staley consistently changed up his fronts against Russell Wilson and the Seattle offense. Depending on the Seahawks’ personnel, down and distance, Staley showed three-man, four-man and even five-man fronts.

One interesting part is how flexible the substitutions are in Staley’s system. With Bradley, when the Chargers went to the nickel package (five defensive backs) or the dime package (six defensive backs), players at the same positions always left the field. In nickel, the sam linebacker was subbed out. In dime, the sam and will linebackers left, leaving only the mike linebacker on the field.

Staley, on the contrary, displayed many variations in nickel and dime. He went to those packages to match personnel when offenses sent out three or more receivers. The Rams were in nickel or dime more than 80 percent of the time last season, according to Sportradar. They were in nickel nearly 60 percent of the time. That is their most common package.

If offenses sent out multiple tight ends, the Rams were in their base package. And that looked like a typical 3-4 — three defensive linemen, two inside linebackers, two outside linebackers, two corners, two safeties.



But it is important to understand the Chargers will use that package infrequently.

And when Staley shifts to his nickel and dime packages, that is where he starts to get creative with his personnel and substitutions.

Here are some examples.

On one play against Seattle, the Rams kept two outside linebackers, one inside linebacker and three defensive linemen on the field, along with two boundary corners, a nickel/slot corner (NCB) and two safeties. The second inside linebacker was the player subbed out.



On a different play, Staley subbed out a defensive lineman — the nose tackle — to add the fifth defensive back.



He kept Donald and Michael Brockers in at defensive tackle. Outside linebackers Leonard Floyd and Justin Hollins took on defensive end roles. It was effectively a 4-3 nickel package with two high safeties.

Compare that to the Chargers’ nickel package last year, and it looks quite similar:



The only differences were that the Chargers’ strong safety, Rayshawn Jenkins, was in the box because they were showing a single-high safety look, and Bosa, who was at right end, had his hand in the dirt. Otherwise, there is a lot of overlap in the structure.

On another play in that Seahawks game, Staley took out one of the outside linebackers and replaced him with a defensive lineman. It was a variation of a five-man front, with four down linemen and one standing edge rusher. The fifth defensive back went on for the inside linebacker, and he was actually a third safety, Nick Scott, who is circled below. And strong safety John Johnson moved down to the line of scrimmage as a bigger, more physical nickel corner.



And here is yet another variation of the nickel package. The fifth defensive back entered for the outside linebacker, and the Rams had three down linemen, one edge rusher and two inside linebackers.



This formation, too, looks really similar to the Chargers’ 4-3 nickel package.

Staley also did a lot of interesting stuff with his dime packages.

At times, he would have all his inside linebackers leave the field. That left three down linemen, two outside linebackers and six defensive backs. Johnson would drop down and fill a linebacker/dimebacker role while a third safety, Scott, subbed on to complete the two-high shell.



They also showed a more traditional 4-3 dime package in that same game, with four down linemen, one inside linebacker and six defensive backs, with Johnson, again, moving into the box to fill that dimebacker role.



That all happened in one game, so you can begin to see how Staley’s philosophy materializes in the way he groups his personnel. The more he can vary his personnel packages, the more he can confuse opposing offenses pre-snap. And that includes mixing fronts among three, four and five players.

“Outside linebackers are really just edge players. Those guys are edge defenders,” Staley said earlier this month. “Most of the NFL is three wide receivers, so a lot of the time you’re in five-DB groupings, and so if you’re in a five-DB orchestration, then those edge players become defensive ends, and your ‘defensive ends’ in the 3-4 base world, they become defensive tackles. So you really got to break it down between inside players and edge players. And then you got a bunch of DBs that do a lot of jobs and then inside linebackers play behind the ball. (The) 3-4, to me, is just a way that your personnel is organized, but how that expresses itself on game day, what you actually activate, it’s probably not going to look like 3-4 at all.”

That is not even factoring in the myriad coverage disguises Staley implements after the snap, like showing Cover 2 and then rotating to Cover 3 once the ball is in the quarterback’s hands, which the Rams did occasionally. Diversions and confusion are part of the character and personality inherent in the scheme.

What does it mean for the Chargers’ players?

When asked about Bosa earlier this month, Staley said, “He’s going to be on the edge of our defense in a playmaking role. I think that the fact that he has a unique physical skill set allows you to have that versatility that we like to play with, because he can be on the edge of your defense as an outside pass rusher, and he can also be a little bit closer to the ball as an interior defensive lineman because he has the length and strength to be able to anchor, too. So I think he’s a guy that you can see being in a playmaking position for us, for sure.”

Staley also compared Bosa to Khalil Mack in terms of “body type.” Mack, of course, was an outside linebacker in the Bears’ scheme under Vic Fangio in 2017 and 2018 when Staley was their outside linebackers coach.

But it is crucial to remember that one of Staley’s greatest attributes as a coach is his willingness to adapt and adjust his scheme to his personnel. He will build a unique role for Bosa. He will not just try to slide him into the role that, say, Floyd filled for the Rams last season.

As an edge player, Bosa will rush from a standing position in certain packages. However, he is more comfortable rushing with his hand in the dirt, so Staley will also put him in those positions — in his “comfort zone,” as Staley said. As evident in the situations above, Staley ran plenty of four-man fronts in which Bosa could fit at a more traditional 4-3 defensive end spot.

James’ role will also be unique. In terms of comparisons, though, it seems he would fit into the role Johnson was filling last year for the Rams as the strong safety. Johnson played some deep safety. He played in the box. He played some linebacker. He blitzed. He covered tight ends. Those are all things James does well. Staley trusted Johnson to call the plays, and James is capable of doing the same thing, assuming the Chargers don’t make a run at Johnson in free agency.

But Staley will also find new ways to use James that we have not seen. That is where Staley is at his best — getting the most out of his elite players.

One interesting wrinkle Staley implemented midseason was the “star” package. He wanted to maximize Ramsey’s skill set so he created a package against the Giants that allowed Ramsey to play in the slot against Golden Tate. Previously, including with the Jaguars, Ramsey had been used exclusively as an outside corner. But the Giants’ best receiving weapon, Tate, played in the slot, so Staley adjusted his scheme to get the most out of Ramsey, who is circled below.



James, as it turned out, played the “star” role at Florida State, where he was Ramsey’s teammate. Could Staley cook up a package that allows James to play that role and defend the slot as a big nickel, like he did with Johnson in the Seahawks game? The Chargers could bring on Nasir Adderley as the second high safety next to Jenkins (assuming they re-sign him) and have some combination of Chris Harris, Michael Davis (assuming they re-sign him) and Casey Hayward at corner. That is an option. They can also play James at dimebacker in dime packages — the way Staley did with Johnson — and again have Adderley play as the second high safety alongside Jenkins. The possibilities are endless with James, as long as he can stay healthy.

Moving on with our personnel fit projections, Kenneth Murray and Drue Tranquill will be the two starting inside linebackers. Linval Joseph will play nose tackle. Justin Jones and Jerry Tillery will play defensive end in base and move to defensive tackle when Staley shows a four-man front. Uchenna Nwosu will play outside linebacker. And Staley has a stable of versatile defensive backs to rotate into different personnel packages.

The pieces are going to fit. And that is largely because Staley will mold his malleable and versatile scheme around what his players do well.

Who cares?
We’re only going to be in base D 20%-25% of snaps.

[gzubeck]

2020 Rams: Brandon Staley’s defense held teams to 3 points or less in the second half in 9 games during the regular season.

That is an amazing stat.

Jettisoning the previous coaching staff is going to feel as good as taking a big dump in the bathroom. Staley will have bad games but what we won't have is week in and week out is gross incompetence like the previous crew.

:cheers:

[Topcat]

Jettisoning the previous coaching staff is going to feel as good as taking a big dump in the bathroom. Staley will have bad games but what we won't have is week in and week out is gross incompetence like the previous crew.

:cheers:

LOL...man, ain't that the truth...it was just painful, like torture watching Bradley's D get torched week after week...and knowing there was NOTHING new he was going to do about it...

[wu-dai clan]

Thanks to Popper.
VERY helpful.
However, I would not be so quick to declare JJ III a SS,
especially when it is essentially two Combo Safeties,
disguising their roles.
In other words, I would not necessarily
call someone, anyone a SS
when there are occasions where there are TEs on both sides.

The issue IMV with Rayshawn is that he is not a "processor,"
someone who makes quick analytic decisions.
Jenkins plays by feel--that is his strength,
which allows him to use his athleticism.

Adderley is no Combo Safety.
I still say he's a CB.
Get another Combo Safety.
Free up Derwin to play STAR, MONEY, NLB,
whatever it is labeled as.

[21&500]

2020 Rams: Brandon Staley’s defense held teams to 3 points or less in the second half in 9 games during the regular season.

That is an amazing stat.

Evidence for elite adjustment ability by BS

[Boltjolt]

Evidence for elite adjustment ability by BS

Last season, hec every season under Gus at halftime:

"What's the adjustment plan Gus"

"Nothing! Stay the course and hope they don't notice and make more plays."