Why Hiring Gregg Williams Is a Bad Idea for the St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams are expected to hire Gregg Williams soon, according to Peter King of Sports Illustrated.

While there are things to be excited about with the new coaching regime, Williams isn't that great of a fit for St. Louis, for a few reasons.

Williams' perhaps most important quality that he would bring to the Rams is his creativity in bringing pressure. A Williams defense is always "blitz, blitz blitz!" Pressure will come from everywhere and often.

But the Rams do not have the offense to give heavy blitzing schemes a good chance for success.

Williams could afford to take shots at the opposing QB and overload the line of scrimmage because he had Drew Brees and co. waiting to light up the scoreboard. Most of the time, having an offense like the Saints hides or mitigates mistakes made by the defense.

St. Louis lacks the defensive personnel to fit into such a system. Despite not having any stars on that side of the ball, the Saints defense is full of role players who know and perform their duties well.

Oftentimes, corners or safeties will be in the box and/or blitzing in Gregg Williams' defense—and with the caliber of the secondary as it is currently in St.Louis, the Rams cannot afford to take too many chances.

There are too many holes and positions in need of strengthening and upgrades on the defense already. Hiring Williams for an incomplete defense could end up hurting—rather than helping—the team.

One hiring priority for a new DC should be giving him some good talent to work with. The Rams have a promising nucleus with Long, Laurinaitis and Quinn.

If Williams is hired, a focus in the offseason should be upgrading the defense to a point where the team can get consistent pressure with just the front four linemen. That would open up the playbook for Williams, support the linebackers and secondary, and be the biggest factor in the defense realizing its potential.

I'm cautiously excited about the prospect of having Gregg Williams come to St. Louis. And just like in Sam Bradford's case, if the Rams can put pieces in place and keep building the defense, there is no reason why Williams cannot succeed as the new defensive coordinator.