For now, the question for the New Orleans Saints defense isn't so much whether to be or not to be a 3-4 defense.
It's likely more along the lines of who helps provide flexibility that will allow the unit to show improvement under a first-year head coach (Kellen Moore) and new defensive coordinator (Brandon Staley), whose preference has tilted toward a 3-4?
Staley is in the honeymoon stage where nametags probably are useful, before he digs further into which holdovers are best at what and which possible newcomers – in trades, free agency and the draft – can help accentuate the talents of the defensive players who remain from last year's 5-12 team.
"We're at the beginning, and so much of how you're going to play is the type of personnel that you're going to be coaching," said Staley, who in his last three stops has been a defensive coordinator (Rams, 2020), head coach (Chargers, 2021-23) and assistant head coach (San Francisco, 2024). "So we're at the beginning of that here with free agency and the draft process.
"We've got a core group that's going to be coming back but until that group is out there on the field in the spring, I don't think we're truly going to know.
"We're going to try to be flexible enough to be able to defend all the different types of offenses that you have to play against. And we want to be specific in the matchup; we want to make sure that we go into every game with a plan to win. But a lot of what we're going to do is centered on who this group of guys is that we're going to be coaching."
Too, Staley said base packages yield to sub packages often in the NFL.
"It's a three-receiver league, and you've got to be able to match up in five defensive backs," he said. "That's what you play 70-plus percent of the time now.
"I think the different versions of five DBs is kind of what can give you an advantage, but that's where the game is now. And it's always been a matchup game, now you're just matching up against three receivers."
That kind of thinking is a major reason Moore added Staley to the staff. The familiarity between them was a bonus; Moore was Staley's offensive coordinator with the Chargers in '23.
"His experience in this league, his versatility in being able to play multiple ways, I think, will allow us to suit our players best," Moore said. "I'm really excited to team up with him again."
"I think you have to have versatility in your personnel groupings in the modern NFL," Staley said. "It's so much of a matchup league and if you can have some hybrid groupings that give you a chance to have that flexibility week to week, I think that's important.
"I think Kellen has talked about that, because it's similar on offense. You may have 11 personnel grouping on offense but who those people are and how you play them is going to be different. We just want to make sure we can go into any game and be able to match up."
The year together on the Chargers' staff, matching wits as play-callers for their respective units, allowed Staley and Moore to better understand each other.
"I think any time you spend that much time together, you learn so much," Staley said. "And in the NFL, I don't think you truly learn about people until you're in the fire together, when you play in these big games and you go through these situations together. I know how much he helped me in our time together.
"I know what's important to him from a teaching standpoint, as a competitor, coaching a team the way he believes in playing. But I think the thing about Kellen is his flexibility. You're not going to find very many guys who are as sharp as he is, but also his flexibility in 'whoever I coach, whoever that group is, I can go coach that group and give it a great chance to be successful.' And I've always been impressed with that.
"I believe in Kellen as much as anyone I've ever worked with. I think he's really special as a coach. I think he's a winner.
"You go back – he's a coach's son and playing at Boise State and playing in the NFL – what he's done as a coach in the NFL. I've competed against him a lot, we've coached together, and then to see what he did this year with (Super Bowl champion) Philly was just really special. Not surprising."
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley gestures during an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
New Orleans Saints welcome Brandon Staley as the team's defensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season. Check out some of the best photos from his coaching tenures with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers.
