Players like playing for Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.
A day after new Chargers pass rusher Khalil Mack talked about the relationship he and Staley had going back to their time in Chicago together, new Chargers defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day gushed about his time with Staley on the Rams.
“What brought me to the Chargers, obviously, was my awesome relationship with Coach Staley,” Joseph-Day said. “His philosophy, his mindset of the game.”
Joseph-Day was a sixth-round pick of the Rams in 2018 and didn’t play at all as a rookie, and although he got good playing time in 2019, he said he didn’t even think Staley would know who he was when Staley joined the Rams’ staff as defensive coordinator in 2020. Instead, Staley impressed Joseph-Day with a detailed plan for how to bolster his career.
“I remember the first time we met, he said something to me that caught me by surprise — I introduced myself and he goes, ‘I know who you are.’ I was like, ‘You do?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I know who you are. You’re a good player. People don’t know about you yet, but people are going to find out about you real quick. You’re an up-and-coming, great defensive lineman that people are going to find out about,’” Joseph-Day recalled. “As a young player — I was in my third year, when Staley became the defensive coordinator — that gives you a different type of confidence. I was always confident, but hearing that — then, obviously, the relationship that we built — him caring for who you are as a person, not just as a player, makes you want to ride for that guy. You don’t just want to play your best for yourself, but also for a guy like him.”
Staley is building a defense full of players who are buying what he’s selling.