THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) Veteran defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has been fired by the Los Angeles Rams after three winning seasons.
Phillips announced Monday on Twitter that the Rams are not renewing his contract. The 72-year-old says he wants to stay in coaching.
The Rams finished 9-7 this season, missing the playoffs for the first time in Phillips’ three-year partnership with Sean McVay. Although Phillips’ distinctive 3-4 defense finished near the top of the NFL in many advanced metrics again this season, McVay has decided to shake up his coaching staff for a third consecutive offseason.
Phillips and the offense-minded McVay joined the Rams together in 2017, with the veteran coordinator serving as an experienced counterpoint and adviser to the youngest head coach in modern NFL history. Phillips also ran a defense that backstopped the Rams to 33 regular-season victories, two NFC West titles and four playoff games in three seasons.
The Rams won the NFC championship last season, and Phillips’ defense held New England to 13 points in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever. But McVay’s offense scored only three points against the Patriots, and its fall from the league’s elite continued this season.
Phillips’ defense remained largely solid this season, as it had been for his entire tenure in Los Angeles. Led by Aaron Donald, the Rams finished near the middle of the league this season in points and yards allowed, but the defense’s bad games were glaring debacles that inflated the statistics of an otherwise above-average unit.
Phillips has coached in the NFL since 1976, working for 11 franchises. The son of famed coach Bum Phillips was a head coach at Denver, Buffalo, Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta and Houston.
He coordinated the defense with which the Broncos won the Super Bowl four years ago, earning Phillips’ first championship ring.
The Rams’ defense consistently outplayed McVay’s offense this season, but its bad games were stinkers.
Los Angeles gave up a combined 144 points in losses to Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Dallas while the Rams missed the playoffs by one game. Last month, the defense also allowed San Francisco to convert on two third-and-16 plays on the final drive leading to the 49ers’ winning points in the loss that eliminated the Rams from the postseason race.
”I want to thank them for the opportunity to be a part of their success the last 3 years,” Phillips wrote. ”Most of all I want to thank the players who I loved working with. I still want to coach and feel I can contribute.”
McVay’s success has led to heavy staff turnover for Los Angeles, but the previous upheaval had been about assistants leaving for bigger jobs. The Rams lost Matt LaFleur and Greg Olson after they went 11-5 and won the division in McVay’s debut season in 2017, and the Rams lost Zac Taylor a year ago after their Super Bowl run.
The candidates to be Phillips’ replacement are likely to include Aubrey Pleasant, the Rams’ young cornerbacks coach. Pleasant spent four seasons coaching alongside McVay in Washington before they joined the Rams together in 2017.
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