It was all but a guarantee that the Los Angeles Rams would lose offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur in the coaching carousel this offseason. He led one of the game’s best scoring attacks with Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams and Kyren Williams. The offense was so strong that even pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase got serious looks for a head coaching job.
Ultimately, LaFleur stayed in the NFC West, agreeing to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. He’s faced with a fascinating offseason for one of the most difficult to project teams in the NFL. Meanwhile, Scheelhaase — who interviewed for several head coach openings — was left out of the carousel.
However, this gave the Rams a relatively easy decision to promote him internally. He and Dave Ragone both got title increases behind Sean McVay to lead the Rams offense in 2026, via Adam Schefter of ESPN:
The Los Angeles Rams are promoting passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase to offensive coordinator and making quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone their co-offensive coordinator/QB coach, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday.
This was seemingly the most obvious outcome after Scheelhaase did not receive any head coaching opportunities, as there is no reason to bring in someone externally given the success the Rams have had on offense in recent years. Having a familiar face take over — with Ragone working as his right-hand man — is a perfect setup as the Rams enter what could be the final season of Stafford’s career.
The team is also bringing in Kliff Kingsbury in some capacity, although his role has yet to be determined.
The McVay coaching tree has been outstanding in his time leading the Rams, and it’s very likely that Scheelhaase will be the next big name to get hired in the coming years. Both Mike and Matt LaFleur, Zac Taylor, Liam Coen and Kevin O’Connell come from McVay’s staff in L.A., and each of those names — with the exception of Mike right now — are some of the best coaches in all of football.
Rams bring in Robert Wright as defensive assistant
Robert Wright spent the last two seasons as Syracuse’s co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and in 2023, was Buffalo’s defensive coordinator. Now, he is a defensive assistant on McVay’s staff.
Wright’s previous coaching experience includes stints as a senior defensive analyst at Duke (2022), special teams quality control coach at Iowa State (2021), graduate assistant at Texas A&M (2019-2020), defensive graduate assistant and defensive quality coach in Illinois (2016-2018) and special teams quality control coach at Miami (2015).
He’ll look to help a defense that struggled in the stretch run of the season and needs some significant upgrades in the offseason.
