Wow, Sean McVay's Immediate Future As Rams Coach Is Reportedly "In Limbo"
Sean McVay's Icarus-esque pursuit of greatness helped him win a Super Bowl and become the youngest head coach in NFL history, but now there's a real chance he's pushed himself to the brink of flaming out with the Rams.
Rumors dating back to last offseason connected McVay to an eventual TV gig whenever he was ready for it. The last time I blogged at length about this topic, the buzz was McVay would exit once LA's key stars in Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford and Jalen Ramsey disbanded.
Apparently, the toll of a 5-11 season, among other things outlined by Schefty below, have taken their toll:
"McVay has gone back and forth on the decision, and needs time to get away to process all that has transpired over the past year -- winning a Super Bowl, being courted to work in television, getting married, watching his wife's home country of Ukraine invaded, losing his grandfather, and then coaching a team that has fallen short of its expectations."
Between the multiple concussions Stafford suffered in 2022, and the fact that Donald is year-to-year as far as deciding on retirement, maybe McVay already sees the writing on the wall. The Rams should be healthier next year and were snakebitten by injuries throughout the season, yet it's difficult to say they're in legit position to succeed during the 2023 campaign.
The trickle-down effect of McVay's decision is fascinating. Talk about a tough act to follow. McVay had to be the biggest home-run, first-time head coaching hire of my lifetime. Hard for me to think of anyone better in the moment. His coaching tree has also been pretty damn excellent, so it begs the question: Is there someone in LA waiting in the wings to take his spot, or will the Rams' culture undergo a massive change and bring in a whole new voice to lead the locker room?
There's more than enough smoke to call this McVay-to-TV scuttlebutt a full-blown fire that Rams fans — wherever they are, certainly not packing the house at those home games, eh? — should be apprehensive about.
Unless LA goes after and gets someone like Sean Payton or Jim Harbaugh, anyone else in McVay's stead will be viewed as a huge downgrade. You'll need a commanding presence of a coach who can earn the respect of the top-heavy team and deal with some of the championship-or-bust expectations that finally caught up to McVay, whose contract goes through 2026.
My hope is that McVay truly gets away from the game of football for a little while to clear his head. I feel like the dude's brain doesn't shut the fuck up about ball 24/7/365. "Work-life balance" isn't in many NFL coaches' lexicons. Certainly not McVay's. If he actually can chill out, I think his competitive juices will be back and he'll be on the sidelines for 2023.
I could so see McVay pull a Tom Brady, say he's going to TV, and then, like, a month-ish later be like, "JUST KIDDING I'M BACK TO COACHING."
McVay is one of those guys who speaks at one particular volume. And it's pretty, um, distinctive. I wonder how that'll translate to hours on end on TV. I think he'll be passionate and great at the job, but there's real comedic potential in terms of how McVay delivers his talking points.
Don't go yet, Sean! You're only 36! Belichick and Pete Carroll are north of 70! Hang in there!!