Okay my assessment so far....The Wade Phillips hire is a great hire only downfall is Wade's age (70) and if he was built like Dick Vermeil or even Dick Lebeau I would have no fear, but Wade is not the picture of health so I hope he's indulging in one glass of red wine per night which seems to be the recipe for longevity if you are Calorically-challenged.
Defensive Line Coach Bill Johnson...Loved Mike Wauffle, however, Johnson is one of Wade's boys and does have history of success so maybe this will be an asset and seems to have a nice history of getting players to produce and God knows this might be the best cast Johnson has ever had.
Linebackers Coach Joe Barry...Don't like the hire at all for a couple of reasons, when he was in Detroit his defenses were rated 32nd both years and in Washington he was not much better. He has energy, but just was ineffective as a DC. Now he's been coaching linebackers for years and has had some decent results there, however, my fear is when Wade retires, McVay will just promote Barry so my hope is Wade has a good five years left and Joe Barry never becomes defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams.
Barry’s defenses have ranked 32nd, 32nd, 28th and 28th in yards allowed. The last two rankings are what he had to show for his time in Washington....He's no ordinary Joe, he's much worse than that.
