THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Always one to focus on the present, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has delivered again for his playoff-bound employer.
With the Rams needing a major turnaround to qualify for the NFL postseason, Morris was a steadying force, exhorting players to stay in the moment daily. The Rams got locked-in and won seven of eight games after their bye week to clinch an NFC wild-card berth.
As the Rams prepare to face the Detroit Lions during the wild-card round Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit, Morris is reveling in the challenge of trying to help them reach the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons. Whenever the Rams’ season ends, though, Morris will refocus his efforts on achieving a personal goal: becoming an NFL head coach again.
Since his three-year stint as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended, Morris has been among the league’s most successful assistant coaches. Highly skilled in matters of X’s and O’s as well as an inspirational leader, Morris has nothing left to prove. His coaching bona fides are unquestioned.
All Morris needs is another opportunity to become one of the league’s 32 coaches. For a long time now, he has been waiting for it. ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter reported Monday that the Washington Commanders requested permission to interview Morris for their coaching job.
“I’m not very easily frustrated when it comes to being one of 32 in anything we’re doing in this league. That’s not the word I would use,” Morris told Andscape after practice recently. “There aren’t many of those jobs. We know that. So I’m not frustrated.
“It’s more of a drive [to be a head coach again]. It’s more of a … it’s a want to. It’s more of a feeling of wanting to lead a team. To do that, to get there, I have to find as many ways as possible to be productive in my job now in order to open up those opportunities.”
Morris has already done more than enough to reach the top of the ladder again.
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After winning Super Bowl LVI, the Rams went 5-12 last season and missed the playoffs. Too many things went wrong. That season, there was just too much for the Rams to overcome.
Early during this season, things were still trending in the wrong direction. Entering their bye week, the Rams were 3-6.
Morris wasn’t worried.
As coach Sean McVay’s top lieutenant and most trusted adviser, Morris is a rock of stability in the team’s training complex. He never wavered in his belief that McVay had the Rams on the right path for a turnaround. Players responded to his energy.
When the Rams struggled during their Super Bowl-winning season (in November 2021, they lost three straight by an average of 13.7 points), Morris remained similarly resolute in sticking with McVay’s plan. The Rams got it turned around that season, too, going 9-1 (a 27-24 loss in overtime to the San Francisco 49ers was the only blemish) in their final 10 games including the playoffs. In the Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, Morris’ game plan helped the defense sack Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow seven times.
The defense also made two critical fourth-down stands near midfield. One occurred early in the game and led to the Rams’ first touchdown. The other happened late in the fourth quarter, sealing the franchise’s first NFL title since the 1999 season.
Morris’ approach to coaching and life is straightforward and sound.
“You can’t be bored with the mundane,” he said. “We tell our players all the time that when technique and opportunity meet, when that comes together, that’s when you get the opportunity to present your best self.
“For me, it’s no different. Perfect your craft. Perfect your technique. Do what you have to do every single day to be the best you can. And then when you find that match and you get your next opportunity, you take advantage of it.”
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The Buccaneers gave Morris his first opportunity to run his own shop.
In 2009, when the Buccaneers tapped him to lead them at only 32, Morris was the NFL’s youngest coach. He had risen through the organization, having served as a young quality control coach for the Buccaneers when they won Super Bowl XXXVII following the 2002-03 season. At that point, only four years after graduating from Hofstra, Morris was widely viewed as one of the league’s rising coaching prospects.
Morris’ time at the Buccaneers’ helm was short-lived: He went 21-38 in three seasons. Dismissed from his dream job, Morris had to climb the coaching ladder again, which he has done steadily.
After being fired by Tampa Bay, Morris joined the staff of the Washington Redskins under coach Mike Shanahan. Morris was the team’s secondary coach in 2012 when it won the NFC East, its first division title since the 1999-2000 season.
Other notable assistants on that staff included McVay; Mike’s son Kyle Shanahan, who has been coach of the San Francisco 49ers since 2017; Matt LaFleur, who was hired to lead the Green Bay Packers in 2019; and Mike McDaniel, who took command of the Miami Dolphins in 2022.
During the Rams’ Super Bowl run, Morris went deep into the process to fill the Minnesota Vikings’ coaching vacancy. He interviewed twice for the position, but the Vikings ultimately chose another Rams coach: offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell.
At 47, Morris’ days as a fresh-faced coach are behind him. But he’s one of the best in the business in every facet of the job.
His next one should be a top one.
“I’ve had some great experiences interviewing [for head coaching positions] the last couple years,” Morris said. “I got really close, I believe, and I think it will happen when it’s the right fit for myself and for a team. I really believe that.”
For as long as the Rams need him, Morris will stay in the moment. It’s who he is. But the question remains: Will Morris have another head coaching moment?
