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Are the Rams hiring Raheem Morris as their next defensive coordinator? Those have been the rumors on Tuesday and as of roughly 4 PM PT, Josina Anderson was reporting that sources say Morris in indeed being hired while The Athletic’s Jourdan Roridgue confirms that her sources also say things are going in that direction.
But nothing has been confirmed by anyone with the Rams that the Rams will in fact hire Morris to replace the departed Brandon Staley.
I'm told Raheem Morris will be the next defensive coordinator for the #Rams, per source. (NFLN 1st linked Morris as a target).
— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) January 19, 2021
As reported earlier, Raheem Morris was the top external candidate for the Rams DC job and the sense was they could move quickly on the hire this week.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) January 19, 2021
Things are indeed tracking that way, a source says.
Morris, 44, worked under Jon Gruden and alongside Sean McVay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the mid-aughts. He never served as an NFL defensive coordinator prior to being promoted by the Bucs to become head coach in 2009, when he was only 33 years old. The Bucs went 3-13 in his first season, then 10-6 in his second but missing the playoffs.
Morris was fired after Tampa Bay went 4-12 in 2011.
He returned to the Mike Shanahan tree, working for Washington from 2012-2014, then was hired by Dan Quinn to be an assistant head coach with the Falcons in 2015. Morris spent five and a half seasons under Quinn, until he was promoted to interim head coach in 2020 after Quinn was fired following an 0-5 start.
Morris led the team to a 4-7 record, ranking 29th in yards allowed and 19th in points allowed.
If hired by the Rams, which makes sense given his long history with Sean McVay, he’ll be taking over the number one defense by points and yards allowed in 2020.