McVay to step away?
That’s not the moniker that Los Angeles Rams supporters had in mind as gold and royal blue confetti dropped in SoFi Stadium on Sunday night during Super Bowl LVI. The newly appointed championship coach, though, is not making any more promises about 2022 than standout defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who also evaded queries about his availability for the following season.
When Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times asked if the 36-year-old would coach the Rams again the following season, he said, “We’ll see.”
At age 37, the then youngest head coach in the NFL, who still seems to have a lot of years left in him, it seems incredibly non-committal. At the age of 25, McVay secured his first position as an NFL assistant coach on the field, coaching tight ends for Washington, just 11 years ago. That’s not to argue that being a coach isn’t a grind; it really is. At the age of 58, former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton seems ready for a break, which he might take as a TV commentator position.
But McVay?
“I’m just enjoying this moment right now,” McVay told Hernandez, adding that a Super Bowl title would definitely make it easier to walk away when the time is right. “I’m really happy to be a part of this. Happy for that.”
Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff isn’t panicking, but acknowledged that the amount time and work McVay puts into the job probably isn’t healthy for him.
“I would agree I don’t think Sean’s current pace is sustainable, in terms of how much work he puts in, if you want to have a family,” Demoff told the Times. “But I think the one thing (is) these guys all love football. They love being around each other, they feed off of each other. A month away, two months away, from everybody and I think things will feel a lot better.”
The coach has two years left on his contract, although the climb to return to the Super Bowl looks like a daunting one. Along with Donald’s future being unclear, there are free agents such as Von Miller, Darious Williams, Sony Michel and Odell Beckham who could go elsewhere. And the Rams, per Over The Cap, are facing a nasty salary cap problem this offseason — some $14.1 million over the limit — that doesn’t bode well for retaining key players, much less adding new ones.
Unlike the challenge of refining a championship roster, money should be no issue for Demoff when it comes to keeping McVay around; an extension is likely and rightly forthcoming.
That is, if the coach wants it
.
