What a potential Kellen Moore defensive coaching staff could look like for the Saints

0 6 minutes read

What a potential Kellen Moore defensive coaching staff could look like for the Saints

It is almost a certainty that the New Orleans Saints are hiring Super Bowl LIX Champion Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore to become their new Head Coach this week. With that being the prevailing sentiment amongst fans, players, and NFL media, the next step becomes who Moore will turn to in order to fill out his coaching staff for the 2025 season.

Previously, we looked at what a potential Kellen Moore offensive coaching staff could look like, now here are some potential defensive candidates Kellen Moore could turn to. These are defensive coaches Moore and/or his potential defensive coordinator have had professional relationships with in the past.

Brandon Staley – Defensive Coordinator

Los Angeles Chargers v New Orleans Saints

As head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023, Staley hired Kellen Moore to be his offensive coordinator, following Moore’s mutual departure from Dallas. Brandon Staley most recently spent the 2024 season with the San Francisco 49ers as the assistant head coach to Kyle Shanahan. Following their dominance in Super Bowl LIX, Saints fans would certainly love to have Kellen Moore shrewdly persuade Philly’s defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to come along with him, and as welcome as that would be, it is highly unlikely to take place. What is far more likely, and something that almost feels certain, is that Moore has eyed Brandon Staley from the moment he began mentally putting a staff together. Having a former head coach, one he worked side-by-side with on his staff could be invaluable to a first-year head coach in Kellen Moore.

Staley, a member of the Fangio coaching tree, has seven years of NFL coaching experience, three years as a linebackers coach in Chicago & Denver under Fangio, one season as defensive coordinator for Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams, three seasons as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, and one season as an assistant head coach with Shanahan and the Niners. Much like his his potential appointment of longtime coaching partner Doug Nussmeier as offensive coordinator, it almost feels like a sure thing that Staley will be Moore’s right-hand man on the defensive side of the ball. After a decade of Dennis Allen’s philosophies and vision on defense in New Orleans, it will be a breath of fresh air to have a new philosophy and a new, better, vision for the Saints defense.

***

Eric Henderson – Defensive Line Coach

Henderson served as the defensive line coach on Brandon Staley’s staff with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020, when Staley was Sean McVay’s defensive coordinator. Eric Henderson is currently the co-defensive coordinator, defensive run game coordinator, and defensive line coach for the USC Trojans, a position he has held since the beginning of last season. Henderson is also a New Orleans native, having attended Edna Karr in his high school days. A call to come home while reuniting with his former defensive coordinator may be enough to poach Henderson away from Southern California, a region he has called home for the past eight years, and bring him back to New Orleans. Henderson won Super Bowl LVI with Aaron Donald in Los Angeles, and that experience could be critical to a Saints team that has been devoid of that type of coaching on the defensive line for quite some time.

***

Jay Rodgers – Linebackers Coach

Rodgers served on Brandon Staley’s staff with the Los Angeles Chargers as the linebackers coach & defensive run game coordinator in 2021 and the defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator from 2022-2023. During the 2024 season, Jay Rodgers served as the defensive line coach of the hated Atlanta Falcons until last month. With 16 years of NFL coaching experience as both a defensive line coach and linebackers coach, Rodgers’ versatility could be an asset. The partnership between Staley and Rodgers began with the Chicago Bears, where the two coached under then defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, with Staley coaching linebackers and Rodgers coaching defensive line from 2017-2018. The two coaches clearly have history with a pair of organizations and are tied to the the defensive coordinator of the reigning Super Bowl Champs and both may very well be hired by the offensive coordinator of those same reigning Super Bowl Champs. There’s a synergy there. We’ll potentially see if it works.

***

Derrick Ansley – Secondary Coach

Ansley served on Brandon Staley’s staff with the Los Angeles Chargers as the defensive backs coach from 2021-2022 and the defensive coordinator in 2023. Derrick Ansley is currently the defensive passing game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, a position he has held since the beginning of the 2024 season. Ansley was Kellen Moore’s counterpart in Los Angeles during the 2023 season, with Moore as OC and Ansley as DC, both under head coach Staley; time is a flat circle. With a decade of experience coaching defensive backs in the SEC and another half-decade coaching defensive backs in the NFL, this fast-rising coach could certainly help implement Brandon Staley and Kellen Moore’s defensive vision in New Orleans.

***

John Timu – Defensive Assistant

NFL: Los Angeles Chargers at San Francisco 49ers

Timu served on Brandon Staley’s staff with the Los Angeles Chargers as a defensive assistant from 2021-2023. John Timu also played linebacker for Staley in 2017 when Staley was the linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears under Vic Fangio. Timu is currently a defensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons, specifically working with the defensive line and linebackers. He arrived in Atlanta to begin the 2024 season alongside departed defensive line coach Jay Rodgers. It is currently unclear whether Timu will ultimately be retained by new Atlanta defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, but regardless, it could be a smart move to reunite the young defensive assistant with Brandon Staley, Jay Rodgers, and Kellen Moore.

***

Phil Galiano – Special Teams Coordinator

Galiano is currently the assistant special teams coach with the New Orleans Saints, a position he has held since 2019. Phil Galiano has been the assistant to recent special teams coach and former interim head coach Darren Rizzi since the duo replaced Mike Westhoff following the 2018 season. With Rizzi as the presumptive new special teams coordinator joining Sean Payton’s staff with the Denver Broncos, that leaves Galiano with a pair of options, potentially join Rizzi in Denver as the assistant special teams coach again, or take the next step and be the head of the table as the Saints special teams coach. Galiano has no prior experience with Kellen Moore, but his knowledge of the Saints facilities, players, and the prior coaching staff’s shortcomings could be more valuable than we may have considered. While Rizzi probably won’t stay on with the new regime, his second-in-command may be ready to come into his own, after nearly a decade as an assistant in the NFL. Retaining Galiano may be one of the shrewder moves Moore might make with his staff.

***

***UPDATE*** Since publishing of the offensive staff article, potential wide receivers coach candidate Chris Beatty was hired by the Las Vegas Raiders. That being the case, here is another candidate Kellen Moore might consider in that role:

Adam Henry – Wide Receivers Coach

Henry served as the wide receivers coach for Kellen Moore’s staff with the Dallas Cowboys from 2020-2021. Currently the wide receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills since 2023, Henry coached up a receiving corps that lost some talent last offseason, yet helped get them to the NFL’s final four in January. Adam Henry also has some organizational ties with the New Orleans Saints, having signed as a wide receiver with the team in 1994 and playing on the practice squad from 1994-1996 before starting his career as a wide receiver coach with his alma mater at McNeese State in 1997. Henry’s 14-years of NFL experience and his familiarity with Kellen Moore’s offense would be a benefit for the Saints, should Moore be able to poach him from Buffalo.

***

Of course, this is all speculative. None of these coaches may end up on Kellen Moore’s staff in New Orleans, but for the reasons given, it would make sense for Moore to consider them all the same. Hopefully, now that Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans has concluded, we will see Kellen Moore quickly return to town and fill out his coaching staff as the Saints new head coach.

Wallace Delery 16 hours ago

0 6 minutes read