Aubrey Pleasant was a candidate to be promoted to the Rams’ defensive coordinator position as the team replaced Raheem Morris. He did not land that gig, but he has nevertheless seen his importance to the organization acknowledged with a new title. 
Pleasant – Los Angeles’ defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator – has been given the additional title of assistant head coach, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. He adds that head coach Sean McVay‘s announcement of the promotion to the team was well received, a sign of how Pleasant is viewed in the organization.
The Wisconsin grad began coaching in 2010, one year after his playing career came to an end. Pleasant’s first college opportunity came at Michigan, and he spent the 2011 and ’12 campaigns with the Wolverines. That was followed by a jump to the NFL level, which saw him spend time in Cleveland and Washington before his first Rams stint. That tenure (from 2017-20) came with the title of cornerbacks coach.
Pleasant moved on to the Lions and Packers, working as an offensive consultant with Green Bay in 2022. He was brought back by the Rams last offseason, though, and he was a key figure on Morris’ defensive staff. The latter took the Falcons’ head coaching gig during this year’s hiring cycle, creating the Los Angeles DC vacancy. That post was ultimately filled when another internal candidate (linebackers coach Chris Shula) was promoted.
Pleasant spoke with the Rams prior to their decision to tap Shula for the coordinator gig. He was also connected to the Packers’ DC opening, an indication that he could be a strong coordinator candidate in the 2025 hiring cycle and beyond. Taking on his latest title could also help Pleasant’s future head coaching aspirations.
Interesting move for Aubrey P since he crapped the bed coaching the Lions secondary in 2022 that led to him being fired midseason by Dan Campbell. Wonder what he’s doing differently from that debacle to warrant this promotion
It’s called putting your guys in the best situation to advance and in this case, if he advances to the head coaching ranks then the Rams get compensated
Who was he supposed to coach up in Detroit? He was with the Rams for several years before his Lions tenure. They clearly like and respect the guy. He was also part of a staff that did great work with a very young and modest collection of talent last year. In Detroit, I think he was fall guy for a defense that performed poorly with very little talent on that side of the ball. Detroit really hadn’t invested all that much in the defense, and the investments they had made included injury problems like Okwara and Okudah, who seems like no coaching staff can un-bust him.
That’s very nice
How pleasant
McVay has always struck me as a slick operator. He could give a guy like Pleasant a job promotion and just as quickly make him the fall guy if the Rams performed badly. I’d caution Aubrey about getting too excited because a new job title doesn’t guarantee any kind of job security.
Five of McVay’s assistants have become head coaches. Another four of his former assistants are offensive coordinators currently. There was one more last year. I’d say working for McVay as a coach has generally been good for people’s careers.
If you win a championship as a HC the rest of the league generally tries to go on a poaching expedition to steal your assistants. We’ve seen that scenario play out many times over the years. Every year there seems to be an assistant who becomes the flavor of the month for HC interviews but I still think the NFL is essentially a “what have you done for us lately?” league.
But that’s not really what’s happened with the McVay tree. He’s had former assistants hired elsewhere as head coaches in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
In the NFL everyone loves to jump on a successful HCs bandwagon…but only until the next up and coming hot shot gets their attention 🙂