Packers Interview Fired Chargers Coach Brandon Staley for Defensive Coordinator

Brandon Staley was defensive coordinator of the powerful Los Angeles Rams defense in 2020 but failed to replicate that success as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur is interviewing failed Los Angeles Chargers coach Brandon Staley for the vacant defensive coordinator position, according to The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman and Dianna Russini.

Whether Staley emerges as a top candidate remains to be seen, but that’s on the list at all is a bit of a surprise. Staley was not on our initial list of 13 possibilities, nor was he on our updated list of 15 potential candidates, because a source had said LaFleur didn’t think favorably of the job Staley did in Los Angeles.

Something, obviously, changed – and that’s perhaps a chance to move forward with a scheme similar to the one employed by ousted coordinator Joe Barry so the defense can hit the ground running with an eye on marking a run next season.

The 2020 Los Angeles Rams with Staley as defensive coordinator and Barry as linebackers coach led the NFL with 18.5 points allowed per game. Moreover, the Rams were first in total defense and yards allowed per play, first in passing yards allowed per play, third in rushing yards allowed per play and third on third down.

It was a truly elite unit, which propelled Staley to the Chargers and Barry to the Packers.

However, Staley’s run with the Chargers was a failure. After going 10-7 and reaching the playoffs in 2022 – the Chargers blew a 27-0 lead in a wild-card loss to Jacksonville – Staley was fired late this season after the Chargers were destroyed 63-21 by the Raiders to fall to 5-9.

“These are things that are really challenging,” Rams coach Sean McVay said at the time. “I have grown up in this business and there are a lot of tough things, but I know what a great coach he is. I know what I've seen from my own eyes and I know that he is going to respond and he has got a really bright future.”

Staley’s three-year record was 24-24. That includes a 23-20 loss at Lambeau Field in which Jordan Love shredded the Chargers for 322 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Afterward, Staley seemed offended that anyone would blame his defense.

“I know we give ourselves a chance to win every single week with the game plans that we have. And we have done it,” Staley said. “You guys act like we’ve never played good defense. That’s not the truth. That’s not the truth.

“You act like we haven’t made any improvements. There were a lot of other things that caused us to lose today. It certainly wasn’t our defense. It was the way we played as a team. Stop making it about one unit because that’s not what happened out there today.”

The past three years, the Chargers finished 28th in points allowed, 31st in yards allowed per carry and 25th in opponent passer rating.

“Sometimes, Staley was just too damn smart for his own good,” a Chargers source told ESPN.com after he was fired. “There's certain things where you got to know what's your bread and butter as a defense, and you got to master it so well that other teams got to try to adjust to you. I feel like we were always trying to adjust to other teams.”

While Staley’s Chargers defenses didn’t have the likes of Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, Derwin James, Eric Kendricks and Kenneth Murray aren’t exactly XFL-level backups.

The 41-year-old Staley had a meteoric rise to head coach. He initially entered the NFL as outside linebackers coach under esteemed coordinator Vic Fangio with the Bears in 2017. He followed Fangio to Denver in 2019 before becoming the Rams’ coordinator in 2020.

Cancer is a part of Staley’s life story. As a kid, his dad beat cancer but his mom died after a battle with breast cancer. A few years later while an assistant at Northern Illinois, Staley was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Cancer has shaped me in so many ways,” Staley told The News-Herald. “To see it up close, it definitely grows you up a lot faster. You’re just exposed to things most 12-, 13-year-olds aren’t.

“Watching my mom go through that for nine years, seeing her as a leader of a cancer support group, what she did for others, I felt it was a great opportunity for me to make an impact on people and setting examples.”

Firing Barry Was Easy; Now Comes Hard Part