Rams' Assistant Coach Will Serve As Head Coach for Preseason Week 2

McVay is passing on his head coaching duties to an assistant coach Saturday.

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach and defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant will serve as the team's head coach during Saturday's preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Rams head coach Sean McVay announced Thursday.

Pleasant will get the opportunity to see some head coaching reps during the team's second preseason game of the summer while McVay will spend time in the broadcast booth, per The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue.

Assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant will be the head coach of the Rams on Saturday, said Sean McVay - who wanted Pleasant to get the game day reps in the role and who will spend some time up in the broadcast booth for the game.

— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) August 15, 2024

"He's earned this right and it's more of just going through some of the mechanics," McVay said of the decision. "Meeting with the officials, handling some of the different things as it relates to timeouts, being able to communicate with both sides. Again, these games we approach very differently, but I think to be able to get those reps for the leadership role that he plays for our team, but also to be able to get those chances."

This is a smart move for the Rams to give Pleasant a chance at preparing for a potential future head coaching position. The San Francisco 49ers made a similar move last week, with head coach Kyle Shanahan giving up play-calling duties to offensive passing game specialist Klay Kubiak.

Pleasant earned this opportunity in his sixth total season with the Rams. The former safety at Wisconsin began his coaching career in 2010 at the high school level. The following year, Pleasant moved up to the college level, becoming a defensive graduate assistant at Michigan in 2011. He was later promoted to Michigan's assistant defensive backs coach.

Following his time in Ann Arbor, Pleasant shifted over to the NFL where he worked as a coaching intern for the Cleveland Browns during training camp in 2013. After camp, he was hired by Washington in the fall of 2023 as an offensive assistant. There were multiple ties to the current Rams' coaching staff on Washington's staff.

McVay was Washington's tight ends coach at the time Pleasant was hired. Former Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, who recently took the job as the Atlanta Falcons head coach, was Washington's defensive backs coach at the time.

That coaching staff went on to produce five head coaches already, including Morris, McVay, Mike McDaniel, Kyle Shanahan, and Matt LeFleur. If Pleasant were to go on to become a head coach, he would become the sixth from that one staff.

Pleasant would later get promoted to Washington's defensive quality control coach before becoming the Rams' cornerbacks coach in 2017 after McVay was hired as the team's head coach. He spent four seasons with the Rams before heading to the Detroit Lions to work as a defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator from 2021-22.

Pleasant was fired by the Lions in the middle of the 2022 season, and finished the year as an offensive consultant for the Green Bay Packers. He returned to the Rams in 2023.

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