Winning the Super Bowl is earning some Rams assistant coaches bigger jobs with new teams.
Three joined the Denver Broncos on Thursday, with Ejiro Evero hired as defensive coordinator, Dwayne Stukes as special teams coordinator and Marcus Dixon as defensive line coach under new head coach Nathaniel Hackett.
Evero coached the Rams’ secondary and coordinated their pass defense in his fifth season with the team, Stukes was assistant special teams coach in his only year in L.A., and Dixon was the assistant defensive line coach for one year.
Hackett’s announcements came on the day Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell had his formal introduction as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach, becoming the fourth of Sean McVay’s assistants to get a top job.
O’Connell reportedly will interview Rams running backs coach and assistant head coach Thomas Brown for the Vikings’ offensive coordinator role.
For McVay, losing successful assistant coaches is nothing new, and he has called it a “champagne problem.”
Last offseason, eight members of the 20-man staff departed, including defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to become Chargers head coach. McVay replaced them with new hires and a long list of title changes.
STAFFORDS TO HELP
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife Kelly said they will pay for the medical care and damaged equipment of a photographer who was injured at the team’s Super Bowl victory rally in Exposition Park on Wednesday.
Kelly Smiley, a Southern California sports photographer who works for the Rams, fell about 10 feet off the front of the stage. Both Staffords appeared to see it happen, and Kelly Stafford rushed to the edge and showed concern while Smiley was attended to and taken away in a wheelchair. Smiley said on Twitter that she suffered a spinal fracture.
“We have been in communication with Kelly Smiley since yesterday’s incident and we are sorry for what happened,” the Staffords said in a statement. “As we told Kelly, we will be covering all her hospital bills and replacing her cameras. We wish her a speedy recovery.”