Tweet
Brandon Staley and Renaldo Hill spent countless hours in each other’s offices as defensive coaches on the Denver Broncos’ staff to not only prepare for their 2019 opponents but for future offensive schemes they might face.
Planning ahead is why Staley, the recently hired Chargers head coach, decided to hire Hill as his defensive coordinator.
“Let’s figure out some puzzles,” Hill recalled Wednesday about his game-planning hours with Staley. “Let’s find the new things that people are doing and let’s attack them … We’re always looking for the next thing. How can we improve our defense?”
The two became close during their lone season together in Denver, with Staley as the outside linebackers coach and Hill as the defensive backs coach. Hill remained in the same role with the Broncos this past season and Staley went on to be the Rams’ defensive coordinator.
Now they’ll reunite to use their past notes and brainstorm for the Chargers.
Staley will call the plays for the defense, but Hill said the new job intrigued him because he knows Staley will allow his heavy input on game days.
“I’m going to lean on (Staley) earlier in this process,” said Hill, a first-time defensive coordinator. “But I know he’s always open to listen to ideas. And he has his own ideas, I have mine. But as a defensive staff, we’ll definitely collaborate on all those and come up with the best for the guys, but he’s always been open to listening and receiving. A lot of times you may be in rooms and it might not be received as well.”
Hill, 42, played 10 NFL seasons as safety for the Arizona Cardinals, then-Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins and Broncos. He coached for college programs Wyoming and Pittsburgh before landing his first NFL coaching job with the Dolphins in 2018 as an assistant defensive backs coach.
Hill said Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles inspired him to become a coach when Bowles coached him with the Dolphins in 2008.
“The way his brain operated, that’s something that I think we have a shared common,” Hill said about Bowles. “Always thinking from a different lens. He always talked to me about, ‘You know this game. There will be a lot of people with a lot of experience.’ It’s good to pick up that experience from him and understand that they have something to offer, but don’t sell yourself short on the things you know about this game as well.”
Staley also noticed that potential in Hill, and referred to him as a “young superstar,” according to Hill during the recruiting pitch.
Hill said this opportunity will help him learn how to coach defensive linemen and linebackers while still sharing his extensive knowledge to the Chargers’ defensive backs.
Eventually, Hill wants to use this experience for bigger coaching roles and he believes Staley will allow him to grow as a coach with the Chargers.
“That’s one of the first things that Staley mentioned is about putting guys in better positions in order to move up and advance,” said Hill, a Black coach, when discussing the NFL’s lack of diversity among coaches. “It just wasn’t lip service.
“(Staley is) always talking with his staff about putting guys in position to move up, and I know that’s something, once I step in that building, that’d be the game plan for not only myself but the rest of the staff.”
Hill didn’t get into specifics about how the Chargers will look defensively in 2021, but he stressed the importance of bringing pressure and disguising coverages, possibly from a Cover-2 scheme with two safeties downfield.
The Chargers rarely blitzed in the past four seasons with Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator. Bradley often utilized a four-man rush and used Cover-3 with a single-high safety.
“You have to bring those simulated pressures,” Hill said. “You have to bring those five-man pressures as well as six. Obviously, you want to be able to mix those things in, but you also want to see how your personnel fits to all those things.
“But I think it’s important to understand the personnel and how we want to operate, but I believe you have to bring pressure in this league. I believe you have to change it up and give these quarterbacks multiple looks. You also have to know who you’re going against, because of the quarterbacks we have in our conference, they invite pressure.”
Hill was likely referring to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He’s looking forward to game planning against him twice a year, along with the many other talented quarterbacks in the NFL.
Planning ahead is why Staley, the recently hired Chargers head coach, decided to hire Hill as his defensive coordinator.
“Let’s figure out some puzzles,” Hill recalled Wednesday about his game-planning hours with Staley. “Let’s find the new things that people are doing and let’s attack them … We’re always looking for the next thing. How can we improve our defense?”
The two became close during their lone season together in Denver, with Staley as the outside linebackers coach and Hill as the defensive backs coach. Hill remained in the same role with the Broncos this past season and Staley went on to be the Rams’ defensive coordinator.
Now they’ll reunite to use their past notes and brainstorm for the Chargers.
Staley will call the plays for the defense, but Hill said the new job intrigued him because he knows Staley will allow his heavy input on game days.
“I’m going to lean on (Staley) earlier in this process,” said Hill, a first-time defensive coordinator. “But I know he’s always open to listen to ideas. And he has his own ideas, I have mine. But as a defensive staff, we’ll definitely collaborate on all those and come up with the best for the guys, but he’s always been open to listening and receiving. A lot of times you may be in rooms and it might not be received as well.”
Hill, 42, played 10 NFL seasons as safety for the Arizona Cardinals, then-Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins and Broncos. He coached for college programs Wyoming and Pittsburgh before landing his first NFL coaching job with the Dolphins in 2018 as an assistant defensive backs coach.
Hill said Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles inspired him to become a coach when Bowles coached him with the Dolphins in 2008.
“The way his brain operated, that’s something that I think we have a shared common,” Hill said about Bowles. “Always thinking from a different lens. He always talked to me about, ‘You know this game. There will be a lot of people with a lot of experience.’ It’s good to pick up that experience from him and understand that they have something to offer, but don’t sell yourself short on the things you know about this game as well.”
Staley also noticed that potential in Hill, and referred to him as a “young superstar,” according to Hill during the recruiting pitch.
Hill said this opportunity will help him learn how to coach defensive linemen and linebackers while still sharing his extensive knowledge to the Chargers’ defensive backs.
Eventually, Hill wants to use this experience for bigger coaching roles and he believes Staley will allow him to grow as a coach with the Chargers.
“That’s one of the first things that Staley mentioned is about putting guys in better positions in order to move up and advance,” said Hill, a Black coach, when discussing the NFL’s lack of diversity among coaches. “It just wasn’t lip service.
“(Staley is) always talking with his staff about putting guys in position to move up, and I know that’s something, once I step in that building, that’d be the game plan for not only myself but the rest of the staff.”
Hill didn’t get into specifics about how the Chargers will look defensively in 2021, but he stressed the importance of bringing pressure and disguising coverages, possibly from a Cover-2 scheme with two safeties downfield.
The Chargers rarely blitzed in the past four seasons with Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator. Bradley often utilized a four-man rush and used Cover-3 with a single-high safety.
“You have to bring those simulated pressures,” Hill said. “You have to bring those five-man pressures as well as six. Obviously, you want to be able to mix those things in, but you also want to see how your personnel fits to all those things.
“But I think it’s important to understand the personnel and how we want to operate, but I believe you have to bring pressure in this league. I believe you have to change it up and give these quarterbacks multiple looks. You also have to know who you’re going against, because of the quarterbacks we have in our conference, they invite pressure.”
Hill was likely referring to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He’s looking forward to game planning against him twice a year, along with the many other talented quarterbacks in the NFL.
Comment