SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Chargers have named Jim Wagstaff, 44, defensive backfield coach, hiring him away from Buffalo.
Jackie Simpson was shifted to special assistant to make way for Wagstaff, who has spent the last eight years under Chuck Knox at Los Angeles and Buffalo.
Before that Wagstaff was coach at Boise State.
Wagstaff is credited with building the Rams' defensive backfield into one of the NFL's best. After moving to Buffalo he rebuilt the Bills' defensive backfeld into the AFC's leading unit the last three years.
In a telephone interview with The San Diego Union from his home in Williamsville, N. Y., Wagstaff said he has already talked with Charger executives about acquiring at least one more quality defensive back.
He is quoted as saying:
'One of the big keys in the future of football is going to be that fifth and sixth defensive back. Any team these days is going to go with four and five wide receivers deep, so you've got to come up with a fifth and a sixth starting defensive back... I believe in certain situations you have to replace some of your linebackers with defensive backs... The way the rules are these days you've got to have more than four starters to do that.
'The philosophy I've always had is, we like to give every team the same pre-snap look and then go into several different defenses -- man, zone and combinations of them. No predictability.'
