Brandon Staley says Rams defense will have “a lot of carryover”

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The Rams said goodbye to Wade Phillips after three years as their defensive coordinator and replaced him with former Broncos outside linebackers coach Brandon Staley, but it doesn’t look like they will be making radical changes to their scheme with new management in place.

Staley worked for Vic Fangio in Chicago and Denver, which means he’s very familiar with running a defense that uses a 3-4 base. Phillips also ran a 3-4 with the Rams and Staley said that will remain in place when he spoke to the media at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Structurally, our systems — from a personnel standpoint — there will be a lot of carryover,” Staley said, via ESPN.com. “I think that’s going to be a comforting thing for our players is they’re going to be performing a lot of the same jobs, a lot of the same roles . . . maybe schematically, situationally, technically, there may be some nuances, but it will be different.”

The Rams still have work to do when it comes to filling out Staley’s defense. Defensive lineman Michael Brockers, pass rusher Dante Fowler and linebacker Cory Littleton are among the team’s free agents, so the look will likely be different even if the defense lines up the same way.