Chris Shula's defense struggling again.....

Can we wait until a Head Coach is hired?

What you all are arguing about is a moot point until then...

I am concerned at this point that we might lose Andy Weidl!

 

This is something I've never understood.
I have never seen a team win by yards either way. LoL.
Points, turnovers, and harassing the Qb is all that should matter in modern NFL Ds.

 

Shula is the son of a leganday coach. As a football player achiveing type of linebacker.

He is a modren type of coach, that understands down and distance. His performace on the Rams who had a cheap defense on the cap with many young players is eye opening.


" The appeal of Rams D-Coordinator Chris Shula? Running an elite Defense with only 1 1st Round Pick selected by the Rams. Most snaps on D played by 2 FAs picked up on the cheap. Turned mid and late round picks into a cohesive unit. If you’re a team paying your QB big money? Shula is ideal. "


Hmmm... I like what I am reading.

 

That's in response to someone that is saying the Ram's DC Shula is a terrible coach and shouldn't be considered for the head coaching position with the Steelers. The poster is saying he's not a good DC even though his defense is #10 in scoring defense with the team spending under $70,000,000 per year.

The Steelers are #17 in scoring defense and they are spending close to $180,000,000.

Huge difference.

 

You know....the cap number thing is just something I have to push back against....

Here are the only cap #'s on the Steelers defense above $5 million in 2025 (rounded the numbers a bit):

• Watt $23.4 million
• Highsmith $18.6 million
• Heyward $22.8 million
• Queen $17.6 million

I am also pretty sure those are the only guys on defense that are NOT on either rookie contracts or weird FA deals that balloon in 2026.

Why is that important? Because the Rams entire defense except Poona Ford ($5.1 million) and Williams at CB ($9.2 million) seems to be on a rookie contract or a cheap "prove it" FA deal. Lake just got an extension and jumps to $13 million in 2026. Verse is easily going to get at least Highsmith money sometime soon. Looks like they will have to either cycle their LBers over or start paying a few of them based on expiration of deals.

Long story short...just because a defense is inexpensive does not mean the players are not highly talented. It could mean that the players are mostly locked in on rookie deals that massively undervalue their worth in the NFL.

And yes, the Steelers defense has some highly over-paid versus performance players. That is the world of NFL 2nd and 3rd contracts.

 

He is Don Shula's grandson.

 

Check out my earlier post which is #42 of this thread.

I already commented on what you are speaking about above.

The Rams are drafting young talent, developing young talent, and then using the young talent in the scheme immediately. Something the Steelers have been struggling with for years now.