IRVINE, CA — Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has spent many years in the NFL as a coordinator and head coach, those experiences that have shaped him into the leader he is today. Morris is not only a teacher but a defensive technician, that enables his players and coaches to pull the gems necessary from him for success.
“You want to pour as much as you can to every single person on our football team,” Morris. “I believe we’re about 88 deep. If you can give all that, to all those guys and use every single coach you got and get the most out of everybody and just be in the moment, at that point, I’m Jonathan Cooley’s assistant. If he asked me to do something for them individual, let’s go to work and do it.”
During the 2020 season the Rams had the leagues number one defense under Brandon Staley, who later departed for a head coaching position with the Los Angeles Chargers. Morris faces the task of keeping the team as the top rated defense and yet sprinkle his flavor over the defense and players like Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and Leonard Floyd.
“Leonard (Floyd) is a special player, I just know. You get around him more and more every day. He comes off as a quiet person, he is not. He is to himself, but when he’s to himself he’s about his business. When you ask him to go above and beyond, like today, I asked him to push the young guys and really coach those guys and lean into him and he did.“
Morris also believes that you can be a disciplinarian but also have fun with coaching players up during drills and meetings.
“I know how to push a couple of the guys’ buttons right now,” Morris explained. “I like to do it with comedy at times. Sometimes you get brutal, honest truth and you do it with a smile on your face and people take it in a completely different way. Sometimes you can give it to them in a stern fashion and sit them down and let them know what you’re really saying.
“When you’re talking to Jalen Ramsey and you tell him the absolute truth, he’s with you when you’re right, as they say it. And he’s been with us a lot right now. If you can keep him in that locked in fashion, that locked in stage, he’s definitely one of my favorites to pick on, along with the others.”
Making the right decisions and setting the tone are keys to the success of this team that includes the defense for Morris, yet never losing sight that establishing a mentality of being the best is imperative in order to properly execute every play.
