After one year on the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff as an assistant, former LA Chargers head coach Brandon Staley is once again a coordinator, thanks to his old pal Kellen Moore.
Moore, who was Staley's offensive coordinator on the Chargers in 2023, hired his former head coach to serve as the New Orleans Saints' defensive coordinator. Staley has a lot to prove in his new role as he looks to shake the bad image that followed him out of Los Angeles.
Staley, who started his Chargers tenure off as a smooth-talker to the media but quickly deteriorated as time went on, appeared in front of reporters for the first time as the Saints' defensive coordinator on Monday.
While he has been away for the job for over a year, it is safe to say that being the Chargers' head coach took a toll on Staley. Staley looks like a president who served a term in office just four years after he was initially hired by the Chargers.
Do not coach the Los Angeles Chargers https://t.co/rymEXlcXcG pic.twitter.com/d8z6D9XvsG
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) March 10, 2025
Brandon Staley looks unrecognizable to Chargers fans
That is someone who has seen a lot of things. To be fair, coaching the Chargers for three years and being an assistant in the one year where the 49ers weren't good probably had just as much stress as serving a term in office.
Staley adopting a new look is probably good for the brand moving forward. When you have a tenure like Staley did with the Chargers, you need a complete cleanse, a complete reset from what was previously happening.
If Staley is going to last in this league he has to prove he is not the same guy that was the head coach of the Chargers. An image change is the first step in that rebranding process.
Will it change how Staley calls his defense and whether or not he is successful in New Orleans? Absolutely not. If Staley is going to succeed as a defensive coordinator, he has to be more open to change than he was when he was with the Chargers.
But hey, if he is willing to change his image and go with the bald look, maybe he is willing to change how he calls defenses. Time will tell.