The Los Angeles Rams had their coaching staff poached once again heading into the 2024 season. After a surprise postseason berth, teams around the league want a bit of the magic that comes from being on Sean McVay’s staff, with Raheem Morris landing a head coaching gig with the Atlanta Falcons and taking Zac Robinson with him. And another popular target was Rams tight ends coach Nick Caley.
Caley worked in the New England Patriots organization from 2015 to 2022. He began as an offensive assistant, then spent six seasons as the tight ends coach. Finally, he made the lateral move over to the Rams organization, where he spent 2023 as the tight ends coach once again. But then, big changes took place in New England, with Bill Belichick and Patriots parting ways and Jerod Mayo taking over.
The Patriots made a major play at Caley, who instead opted to stay with the Rams under a small promotion. But he turned down a much larger one with New England, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated:
Caley traveled to New England for a second interview with the Patriots, whom he worked for from 2015–22, over the weekend of the conference title games, and was offered the Patriots offensive coordinator job by his old staffmate Jerod Mayo. And he was offered it at a very competitive salary, which reflected the respect Mayo has for him.
It was tough to say no. But Caley had such a good experience last year with the Rams, that the idea of leaving was more difficult than turning down a coordinator job. So he stayed, and McVay, as I’ve heard the story, was ecstatic that he did (and McVay showed that emphatically on the phone with Caley when he was told he was staying). In turn, the Rams have since made it worth his while by giving him the pass-game coordinator title that Robinson left behind when he decided to go run his own offense in Atlanta under Morris.
For Caley to turn down an offer to return to the team he spent eight years with and get a promotion to offensive coordinator is a massive testament to what McVay has built with his coaches over the years. The Rams have always been a place where coaches go and find instant success under McVay, but it usually leads them to find greater titles elsewhere.
Caley is choosing to stick it out as the tight ends coach with an added bonus of a new title in pass game cooridinator. It also shows how much he means to McVay and the staff.
McVay explains decision to promote Chris Shula to Rams defensive coordinator
With Morris gone, McVay pivoted and promoted Chris Shula to become the Rams’ new defensive coordinator. McVay went into great detail on why he went with Shula.
“There were a lot of quality candidates, but I think just with his experience and his preparation and some of the different things that he’s done to really just be where his feet are planted, but also prepare for when an opportunity arises, you’re ready to attack it the right way. I’m excited for him and have a tremendous amount of confidence in him.”
