The Los Angeles Rams have promoted Chris Shula, the grandson of legendary coach Don Shula, to defensive coordinator.
Shula served as linebackers coach and pass-rush coordinator for the Rams last season. He has also coached defensive backs and outside linebackers in his career, and the promotion came after he was interviewed by the Miami Dolphins - where Don coached the majority of his iconic carer.
This is the first time since 2017 that Rams head coach Sean McVay has chosen to fill a vacant defensive coordinator role from within the team. The decision came after Raheem Morris, who had been with the Rams for three seasons, was hired to coach the Atlanta Falcons last month.
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Don Shula, Chris's grandfather, is an iconic figure in NFL history. He led the Dolphins for most of his NFL career. His first head coaching position was with the Baltimore Colts, where he stayed for seven seasons before moving to Miami for the next 26 years.
During his career, he only had two losing seasons and led the Dolphins to back-to-back championships in Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl LVIII. The Super Bowl VII capped the only perfect season in NFL history.
Despite the Dolphins' desire to keep it in the family, Shula chose to stick with the Rams. He and McVay were college teammates at Miami, Ohio, making Shula the fourth defensive coordinator under McVay's leadership in Los Angeles.
Chris Shula will be the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator in 2024 (Getty Images)From 2017 to 2019, Wade Phillips was in charge of the defense, followed by Brandon Staley for a single season in 2020 before he moved on to coach the Los Angeles Chargers. Morris took over from Staley, with the Rams clinching Super Bowl LVI in his first season.
Shula's promotion is just one of several changes affecting the Rams' coaching team. The New England Patriots have snapped up assistant special teams coach Jeremy Springer as their new special teams coordinator. Meanwhile, Morris has taken quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson and assistant head coach Jimmy Lake to Atlanta to become the Falcons' offensive and defensive coordinators.
Before settling on Shula, McVay reportedly considered bringing back former head coach Staley. He also interviewed defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant before finally deciding on Shula.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
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