St. Louis Rams Make Alterations to Defensive Coaching Staff
With the 2015 season now in full gear as the St. Louis Rams began full-squad training camp practices on Friday, the team has made some adjustments to the coaching staff. Chuck Cecil, who formerly worked as Jeff Fisher‘s defensive coordinator in Tennessee before spending the past three seasons as the Rams’ defensive backs coach, has been reassigned to the role of senior defensive assistant. In this position, Cecil will be able to work in tandem with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to evaluate and strategize for all the different facets of the Rams’ defense.
It’s debatable whether this move is really a promotion for Cecil or simply a retention of a guy who played for Fisher in 1995 and has coached with him since 2001. Cecil’s defensive backs have performed erratically at times during his tenure on the staff, and frequent coverage breakdowns (which often involved Janoris Jenkins and Lamarcus Joyner in 2014) have at times doomed a Rams team that has not been offensively efficient.
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With Cecil reassigned, Brandon Fisher (son of Jeff), who served the past three seasons as Cecil’s assistant, and Dennard Wilson, who spent that time as a defensive quality control coach, have been promoted to serve as the co-defensive backs coaches. Wilson is expected to focus on the cornerbacks, while Fisher will handle the safeties. It will be the first pro position coaching opportunity for both coaches. Former Minnesota Vikings assistant Jeff Imamura was hired this offseason to fill Wilson’s vacated role as the defensive quality control coach.
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This move follows a trend by the Rams of instituting a more horizontal management structure on the coaching staff. Though former quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti was named the new offensive coordinator this offseason, tight ends coach Rob Boras was also awarded more game planning responsibility and will now be chiefly responsible for the run game.
Former Auburn quarterback Barrett Trotter, who was the Tigers’ starter in 2011, has also joined the coaching staff as an offensive assistant after spending the past two seasons working behind the scenes for the Rams. Trotter will be yet another influence on the quarterbacks, who already have former QBs coach Cignetti, his replacement, former NFL signal caller Chris Weinke, and first-year offensive assistant Jeff Garcia, a veteran of 12 NFL seasons who is expected to work more with the receivers but still could be a sounding board for Nick Foles, Sean Mannion, Austin Davis, and Case Keenum.
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