Former Chargers HC Brandon Staley earning several DC interviews

The Chargers’ former head coach has several interviews lined up, including the Packers and Dolphins.

Following Brandon Staley’s abrupt exit as head coach of the Chargers, we had yet to hear his name used in any capacity throughout the coaching carousel.

Until now, that is.

According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, Staley is scheduled to meet with the Packers on Friday to interview for their vacant defensive coordinator position. If he gets the job, he’d be replacing Joe Barry, another former Rams defensive coach.

Staley is also reportedly set to interview with the Dolphins this weekend who mutually agreed to part ways with defensive coordinator and Staley’s former mentor, Vic Fangio, earlier this week. On top of that, Staley is also in the running to return to the Rams to replace Raheem Morris who was hired away as the next head coach of the Falcons.

Charger fans who watched Staley’s defenses over the last three seasons are probably — and rightfully — perplexed to see him earn multiple interviews following his exit from Los Angeles. In his final game, Staley allowed 63 points to the Raiders and their rookie quarterback. That performance prompted the Spanos family to immediately cut ties with both Staley and general manager Tom Telesco the next morning.

In the graphic below, you can get a quick glimpse of Staley’s tenure as the defensive play-caller, although it should be noted the graphic is dated from October 24th of this past season. However, Staley’s final few games after that date unfortunately did little to change these rankings by the time he was ousted.

Staley rose to prominence on the back of his work with the 2020 Rams where he had them as the top defense in all of football. Having a player like Aaron Donald obviously helped but he still managed to get the most out of several unheralded and rookie players, such as rookie safety Jordan Fuller (late-round draft pick), linebacker Troy Reeder (hasn’t started elsewhere), and cornerback Darious Williams (first year as full-time starter).

But alas, that success he had with the team across town did not transfer over to the Chargers. Despite having more star players on defense comparatively, the numbers were nowhere close to matching up.

Will he find that level of success elsewhere where he only has to worry about the defense? It’s quite possible. If he does, that likely says some unfortunate things about the Chargers players and their roster over the past three seasons.