EXCLUSIVE: Rams Aubrey Pleasant, He Who Sits At the Precipice

The truth is that after 2022, the Rams should have fallen apart, they should have in 2023 and 2024. That's the NFL and the Rams had every excuse to falter but McVay never left, Stafford always stayed, and that offseason, following the team's worst season in the McVay era, the Rams would proceed to rebuild what was once the envy of the league.

The team dusted itself off, got back to basics, and remembered what made them great in the first place. It's the culture.

The Winning Culture

It was the same culture that Pleasant returned to in 2023 after helping establish it in McVay's inaugural 2017 season. Pleasant, a Big Ten safety at Wisconsin, brought that hit first, hit hard, hit as a unit attitude to the cornerback room that reinvented itself in Wade Phillips' 3-4 defense overnight.

After achieving success as a position coach with the Rams, helping the team win the 2019 NFC Championship, Pleasant would go on to seek other opportunities for advancement. While his next stop, the Detroit Lions, didn't work out for many reasons outside of his control, he would find his way back to the Rams, and now two years later, Pleasant sits at the precipice of his biggest opportunity yet.

A player developer, motivator, and strategist, Pleasant has helped the Rams redefine their secondary in the post-Raheem Morris era. While the secondary may not have the big names of years past, they play as one, resulting in a complete turnaround to end the 2024 season.

Now, with all eyes looking at the franchise as Super Bowl contenders for the first time since they last lifted the Lombardi, Pleasant could be on the verge of a head coaching or coordinator job, either with the Rams or another team looking to emulate their success.

Pleasant took time out of his evolving schedule to speak to me following practice on Tuesday. During the course of our conversation, we discussed his recent performance as acting head coach in his team's victorious effort against the Los Angeles Chargers in preseason play.

The Man In Charge

Pleasant made some interesting tactical decisions, so we dove into them as he reflected on team strategy, his execution, and the lessons he's taking with him toward his next opportunity.

While the Rams were primarily in business, the game turned on its head once the Chargers inserted Trey Lance for Taylor Heinicke at the quarterback position. Lance, a more mobile quarterback, caused issues with his ability to scramble, leading to downfield success with his throws.

"I think the thing that we just have to make sure we do a good job is understanding how the quarterbacks, when they transition, their skillsets transition with them," stated Pleasant. " I think you know, anytime you're playing defensive back in this league, you have, high stakes, high rewards. And to me, it's not about the plays that they made. Is that they were very contested plays, that they were phenomenal passes, and they were great catches.

And I was even more excited about how those DBs and our defense responded off those plays than necessary those plays happen. I think sometimes, as a fan, when you sit back and you watch and you see these explosive plays, sometimes you think they're all equal. They're not. There's a difference between a guy running clear down the field because it's a bust, it's a difference when somebody's losing leverage, and there's also a difference when it's a great play and this is professional football. They're on scholarship, too, and when they make a good play, you tip the hat. But we definitely should have been able to keep the pocket a little bit more knowing that Trey Lance was gonna try to extend the play."

That reminded me of a story from Will Compton, where he missed a tackle. While he was beating himself up, Raheem Morris, his position coach at the time, was happy because Compton did his job and attacked the correct leg of his ball carrier. It's those little moments, those changes to the narrative, the details, that's everything. For Pleasant and his messaging, it was in that moment, his words, that mindset, the mindset of the Rams revealed itself.

That's why the team was able to overcome slow starts in 2023 and 2024. It's the response, and that's exactly what Pleasant's team did against the Chargers.

Despite the fact the Chargers took the lead on four separate occasions and the Rams kept swapping out their players for others considered lower on the unofficial depth chart, the team never wavered. In fact, it was Brennan Presley, Mario Williams, and Tru Edwards' insertion into the lineup that opened the passing game.

Down 15-10 with seconds ticking away to end the third quarter, quarterback Stetson Bennett snapped the ball to avoid a delay of game penalty, firing an absolute dart to Williams in the end zone. Up by one, convention says to go for two. Pleasant decided that keeping his ace in the hole was more important given the game situation.

"So two things. One, our thought process going into the game was if we put ourselves in a position where we would have a longer, extensive drive and we felt like we were tiring down their defense, then we would go ahead and go for two. If we felt like we were in a situation where splash, splash, two, three play, explosive play, and they got down there, and, man, let's just go ahead and kick the field goal. That was our thought process actually going into the game and actually making that decision during the game, I felt very comfortable with it. I think once they returned that punt and they went up, the thought process went, man, instead of maybe kicking a field goal, could you have potentially gone for two in that situation?"

"For me, it was very important to realize that our offense had already been down inside the five, a couple series prior, and we had a lot of plays down there. And in the preseason, you kind of go in with a certain amount of plays. And I figured I wanted to hold that two-point play, that last play that we have, maybe for a little bit more of a crunch situation than me trying to be knee-jerk and trying to overdo it."

On that drive, the Rams' ran six plays and covered 67 yards in the final three, thus playing into Pleasant's strategy. And then it paid off. On the Rams' final drive, they sat near midfield on 4th and three. With limited options for short gains via the pass, the Rams ran Edwards underneath while the other receivers cleared the rest of the defenders out with vertical or out routes, leaving the Chargers' linebacker exposed to Edwards' speed.

Who knows if a two-point play would have looked like that, but having options still in their arsenal gave them the needed concept to convert.

Pleasant and I got into the nitty gritty of the final drive, discussing the tactical decision to not burn a timeout between the beginning of the drive until the end of the fifth play. I felt that between the 1:04 mark where the Rams had 2nd and nine with a running clock, and 4th and three with 41 seconds (where Bennett threw to Edwards), Pleasant should have called a timeout.

"In my thought process is, whenever you go into it, timeouts are more important than time. It's not about did you or did you not call the timeouts but how many timeouts do you have left? And was it being efficient, and how we were actually moving the ball. Not so much moving the ball down the field, but also, how are we getting back to the line of scrimmage? What was our mindset? Do we have the urgency?

And we talked about it going out there. We said, listen, I'm gonna try to hold on to these timeouts as long as I can. So what I want us to do is I want us to be forceful. Kind of get the tempo going, make sure we if we catch it, we run it back into the ref as fast as possible, because I really wanted to hold on to my timeouts as much as I possibly could. That comes from a head coaching perspective, but also comes from being a defensive backs coach in the NFL for 14 years, and to me, there are times at the end of the game where timeouts are actually more important than the time on the clock."

Pleasant's strategy paid off. With some magic from Stetson Bennett and Brennan Presley, the Rams had 1st and goal from the Chargers' 8 with 11 seconds left. One play later, Bennett fired the ball to Edwards for yet another game-winning score.

However, even if Pleasant had burned his timeouts, while it would have been tight, the Rams could have possibly gotten another play off. Why? Because Drake Stoops saved crucial seconds by immediately grabbing the ball, handing it to the ref to be spotted.

"That's something that Coach McVay does a phenomenal job of. That's something that Coach LaFleur does a great job of really going through. Coach Ragone does a good job talking to the quarterbacks. But specifically, I thought it was a good job by Coach Scheelhaase really talking to the quarterback before that situation, and I had already let the refs know, hey, if anything happens on this play and we catch the ball in bounds, I'm going to sprint to you as fast as I possibly can to be able to call that time out as much as I can. But with that, I thought it was really important for Drake to be able to transition, to be able to make that whole thing much smoother.

Nate Scheelhaase was the Rams' offensive coordinator for the game. Pleasant would complement his performance, praising him for his delivery, cadence, tone, and timing with play calls and communication. Scheelhaase, a former collegiate offensive coordinator and the Rams' current pass game coordinator.

Pleasant's role within the organization is already growing. While his foundation is defensive backs, he's also worked with the offense, helped organize the defensive structure, provides input on tactical decisions, and recently, Pleasant was involved with McVay and general manager Les Snead throughout the cut process, adding his input on roster decisions.

While Pleasant stated it was an unbelievable experience, it's clear McVay is setting up yet another of his coaches to get promoted. McVay's coaching tree is so large and expansive, it touches most of the league in some capacity.

Pleasant is the next man up and he's got options. The Rams may have their own vacancy in one year if Chris Shula gets hired as a head coach. Something several people around the league consider a forgone conclusion. Pleasant, who helps organize the defense with Shula, could leave with him to become his defensive coordinator. The nightmare scenario is if Shula, Pleasant, and Quentin Lake leave together.

Or how about Mike LaFleur. He has the lineage, resume, respect, and skill to be a head coach himself. He might bring some familiarity with him, especially if Pleasant already helps out on offense.

While the future for Pleasant is bright, and it's clear he has the mindset of a head coach with the ability to communicate like a mentor, his mentality does not waver in the face of the riches of tomorrow.

"I'm only really worried about LA like I talked about earlier this place gave me my first opportunity to be a position coach, gave me my first opportunity to go out there and be a head coach. And I just want to continue to just blossom where my feet are planted and let things kind of go where they need to be. But I'm very, very happy, and I'm very loyal to this organization."

Where the ground is nurtured, the flower shall bloom. Aubrey Pleasant. He who sits at the precipice.