It's official: the Rams have hired their defensive coordinator, Ken Flajole.

At first glance, it seems like a good hire. Obviously, Spagnuolo will have a lot of say in the defense, so it's not as though Flajole, as a first time coordinator, will just be thrown to the wolves. Carolina has featured some nice work from their linebackers under Flajole, and as I said this morning, that's an area where the Rams defense needs a lot of work to make the whole machine run better.

Here's his official bio on the Carolina Panthers web page.

Now, the next question in regards to Flajole: does this give the Rams a leg up in acquiring DE Julius Peppers? Who knows. The Rams could always use another stud for the d-line, especially with a defense that figures to rush, rush and rush under Spagnuolo. Defensive end isn't the Rams' biggest area of need, and he'd command dollars that would otherwise go to address areas of need.

Here's some more info on the Peppers saga from the good people over at Cat Scratch Reader, SBN's Panthers blog.