How Did Rams Not Lose Aubrey Pleasant to Promotion?

How Rams' assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant didn't get a coordinator job this offseason is honestly beyond belief. The man can coach but more importantly, he connects with players in a personal and meaningful way that allows him to craft a lesson tailor-made for each person.

Pleasant took interviews with the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars in the offseason, but both teams decided to go in another direction.

That was quite shocking. Pleasant has the skills, the resume, the connections, and the heritage as all of Sean McVay's assistant head coaches have gone on to take coordinator roles after serving on McVay's staff.

Recently, McVay credited Pleasant for helping players open up, describing Pleasant as the man who has been leading the messaging.

“You know what I think's cool? When you're going through similar experiences, you're staying in the hotel, a lot of things are new for guys. There's that shared experience of understanding what we're going through. They're able to lean on one another. What I think's been great is we've really tried to lean into the types of people where there's different personalities, but there's still our core values or experiences that these guys have gone through that have tested their mental fortitude, their resilience. A lot of the things that you've heard us talk about over the last couple years, I think we've really leaned into that and so I think the most important thing is as a team, how do we come together?"

"How do we really lean on one another? But when you are going through a similar experience, it's been fun to be able to watch those guys mature and be able to grow together, if you will. It still is the early parts. And then, Aubrey and (Senior Manager of Football Affairs) Casey (Africano), but like Aubrey, as the assistant head coach, he's been leading a lot of the messaging and just some of these meetings and watching him connect and guys being able to open up, has been really cool to be able to witness and it's a huge credit to him. But really enjoy just the caliber of people we have in our locker room. I think that's one of the things that I would hope you guys would feel even as it relates to just doing your job is man, these are quality young men. They're respectful. They understand that you guys are trying to be able to do a job and they're all different personalities but man, they make up a pretty cool opportunity for us to be able to bring it together and see what that looks like this coming fall.”

If Chris Shula leaves this offseason for a head coaching job, don't be surprised if Pleasant becomes the Rams' next defensive coordinator but for all the praise he gets, it's very shocking he isn't a coordinator right now.

Trust me, the man knows his Xs and Os, so it's not that either.

Side note: For the Bears, Dennis Allen over Pleasant? Really? I get Allen has the history, but I don't know what's rarer, a steak from a freshly butchered cow that has never felt heat or a player/ executive saying something positive about Allen. Just saying.