Failure with Chargers shouldn't stop Brandon Staley from being top defensive coordinator candidate

The Green Bay Packers are interviewing former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley for their vacant defensive coordinator position on Friday, according to a report from The Athletic's Matt Schneidman. 

Along with the Packers, Staley has also been speculated as a potential candidate for the Miami Dolphins job following the team's parting of ways with Vic Fangio. Seeing Staley as a contender for defensive coordinator jobs might be a little surprising given how poorly his defense performed during his three-year tenure as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, consistently producing one of the league's worst units. 

Under Staley's watch, the Chargers finished 29th, 21st and 24th in points against each season.

That said, this shouldn't play too much of a role in determining whether or not he would be a good hire as a defensive coordinator. The truth is that he probably would be. How do we know? Well, because Staley has already actually been extremely successful at the position already. 

Before being named head coach of the Chargers for the 2021 season, Staley served one year as the Rams' defensive coordinator and helped produce the league's best unit, finishing first in points against and yards against. Before that, he was an outside linebackers coach in Chicago (2017-2018) and Denver (2019), all of which were top-10 defenses. 

His problems did not start until he became in charge of the whole operation, not an uncommon development with coaches in the NFL. 

Not everybody is meant to be Batman. Some people are better served as Robin with more of a specialized, sidekick sort of role where they only have to focus on one area. 

Everything that came out following Staley's departure from the Chargers seemed to tell the story of a coach who was in over his head having full control of the whole operation. It was clear that he struggled in making all of the decisions and dictating the culture of the team. There are a ton of moving parts on a football team, and you have to manage all of them when you are the top boss. It is a beast of a job. Coordinators have no such responsibility and can focus on their area of expertise. For Staley, that is defense. When he has been tasked with focusing on one area, his teams have produced fantastic results. There is no reason why that can not happen again, whether it is in Miami, Green Bay or another team looking for a fresh vision on defense.