Chargers News: Brandon Staley Talks Extensive History With Fresh LA Role Player

Staley knows their recent defensive signing quite well

Last week, your Los Angeles Chargers bolstered their defense when they signed outside linebacker and former Super Bowl champion Justin Hollins. 

The signing came after the team placed their outside linebacker, Chris Rumph II, on the injury reserve with a fractured foot and will miss the rest of the season.LA needed some reinforcement after the Rumph news, and the signing of Hollins off of the New York Giants practice squad was a no-brainer.

Head coach Brandon Staley discussed his familiarity with the 27-year-old ahead of their Week 12 matchup. 

"We drafted him when I was in Denver with the Broncos. He played a lot as a rookie. Then, the following year, when I became the defensive coordinator for the Rams, we were able to get him after the initial 53 cut. He was a starter for us, played a ton of football for us that year on that number one defense. Then, he was a big factor on the Super Bowl team the following year. He played for [current Packers Defensive Coordinator] Joe Barry, who is a really good friend of mine with the Packers, last year and this year. We were able to get him off of New York's [Giants] practice squad. He played solid yesterday. He's versatile. He knows our system well. He gave us a really solid performance yesterday."

(Per Eric Smith of Chargers.com)

Before being the head coach of the Chargers, Staley spent some time with the Denver Broncos in 2019 as an outside linebacker coach, the year they drafted Hollins with the 156th pick in the 5th round out of Oregon. 

Staley and Hollins were together for the first two seasons of the former Ducks' career, first with the Broncos and then with the Los Angeles Rams. 

The LA head coach saw him grow throughout the first handful of seasons, and although it hasn't been smooth for the former champion, Staley and LA gave him a shot, and he did solid in his first game as a Bolt against the Green Bay Packers. 

We'll see how he fares for the rest of the season, as he and the defense have a ton of work to do. 

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