Brandon Staley has John Carroll connection with GMs for Texans, Chargers

According to the John Carroll University website, the school has had a representative in 22 of 53 Super Bowls, but that hasn’t been updated since January of 2020. It is actually now 23 of 54 Super Bowls because the Kansas City Chiefs had both Jalen Myrick and Danny Markino in their front office last year. Some of the other names that have come out of John Carroll, you’ll be more familiar with.

Such as Don Shula, Josh McDaniels, Greg Roman and London Fletcher.

But the list of people who attended John Carroll also includes Tom Telesco, the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers since 2018 (the Chargers hired Markino, a recent longsnapper at John Carroll, in 2020), and Nick Caserio, who was hired as the general manager of the Houston Texans on Tuesday.

Both of those teams are also in search of a new head coach and one of the most popular names on the interview circuit this year has been Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Having helped build the Rams into the top-ranked defense in many categories this season, Staley is already being linked to several openings despite being relatively young (38) and the fact that he didn’t start coaching in the NFL until 2017.

Prior to that, he was the defensive coordinator of a college.

John Carroll University.

Staley spent 2013 as the defensive coordinator at John Carroll, then spent one year at James Madison before returning to John Carroll for two more seasons. Staley then joined the Chicago Bears as outside linebackers coach in 2017, followed Vic Fangio to the Denver Broncos in 2019 and then was hired by Sean McVay in 2020.

The Chargers have already requested an interview with Staley. So have the New York Jets. The Texans could still make contact, now that they have a GM; Houston has already spoken to Marvin Lewis and Jim Caldwell, while Caserio’s New England Patriots ties could connect the Texans to McDaniels or Jerod Mayo.

Meanwhile, Staley could get even more powerful connections around the NFL, as the Jacksonville Jaguars (who fired John Carroll alum Dave Caldwell as GM during the season) requested to interview Rams scouting consultant Ray Farmer for their opening at general manager. Also, the Atlanta Falcons interviewed Rams director of college scouting Brad Holmes for their opening at GM. The Falcons have interviewed Eric Bienemy, Robert Saleh and Raheem Morris so far.

Staley can’t interview with anyone this week, as LA is preparing for their wild card matchup against the Seahawks.