Rams hire new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, nearly 40 years older than his boss
The Los Angeles Rams followed up hiring the NFL’s youngest-ever head coach on Thursday with the new head coach luring one of the most respected, experienced assistant coaches in the game today.
Sean McVay, the Rams’ new 30-year-old head coach, is hiring one of the great defensive minds of the past few decades in Wade Phillips to run the Rams’ defense, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Phillips turns 70 in five months. McVay won’t be 31 for a few weeks. Obviously, the age difference is notable and very rare, if not unique, in NFL history. But there are other reasons why this move is fascinating.
One is that the Rams — frankly, a boring team that barely made ripples in their first year back in L.A. — have made two bold and intriguing moves. It speaks well of McVay, who played college football less than a decade ago, is so willing to bring on an experienced coach such as Phillips without being intimidated or insecure. Phillips was the hottest name available for defensive coordinators, so it was an inspired acquisition.
Phillips entered NFL coaching in 1976 — a decade before McVay was born. In fact, Phillips had just wrapped up his season an interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints in 1985, replacing father Bum Phillips, before Phillips’ new boss was alive. Phillips has been a head coach in the league three times, over nine seasons with the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys.
Plus, there’s the question of how Phillips will unleash a good Rams defense but one whose personnel doesn’t match the typical unit he has run. Phillips runs variations of the 3-4, 4-3 “under” and 5-2 fronts, and he most often has done so with a one-gap philosophy. That latter piece is key because the Rams feature upfield players such as Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, William Hayes and Dominique Easley, so perhaps Phillips can make his principles work even though the system he used while coordinating the Broncos last season would not be a mirror image of what he asks the Rams defender to do.
The Broncos’ defense has been among the best in recent league history the past few seasons, especially during the Super Bowl-winning season in 2015. Phillips’ unit completely dismantled the Cam Newton-led Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 — his first title in 40 years in the NFL. But he’s roundly considered one of the best defensive play callers of this generation, and when his contract was up this offseason and Broncos coach Gary Kubiak stepped down, several teams tried to lure Phillips to join their staff. That’s what make this such a big hire for McVay in his first time as a head coach.
Thanks to John for bringing me ,the Greatest staff ,To Gary our leader ,to the Best players ever and to The greatest fans. I will miss you
— Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) January 13, 2017
What a tremendous game of media ping pong the two L.A. teams have played over a 24-hour period. The news of the Chargers moving broke Wednesday night, and the Rams countered by hiring McVay. Then the Chargers struck back with the news of Anthony Lynn as their next head coach, and the Rams topped that with the Phillips news. Are these city mates and future stadium roommates set to be new rivals?
One more piece to monitor with the Phillips news: A source told Shutdown Corner that McVay could try to lure his former Washington Redskins coworker Wes Phillips to join him on the Rams staff. Yes, that’s Wade’s son, and they’ve not coached on the same staff for a few years now, so it’s possible that Wes and Wade could be coaching together again on McVay’s staff.
But either way, the Rams just became a lot more interesting.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
