McVay returns! But look for changes to LA Rams in 2023

The search for the LA Rams’ new head coach is over before it ever began. The wait is over, the LA Rams now know who their head coach will be in the 2023 NFL season. That head coach will be Sean McVay himself. Here is the report:

Huh.

All that fussing and fuming to end up at the same place as expected before the drama? Well, if that’s what you want to read into this, this is your call. But as far as I am concerned, he made his decision quickly, but with enough time to have held some true self-reflection. So those are the lines. But reading between the lines, here is why that means bigger and better things for the LA Rams in 2023.

Delegate?

For starters, the LA Rams coaching staff has been fundamentally and effectively one of the greatest collections of coaching talent in the NFL. That’s not homerism bull dirt, as the NFL continues to rummage through Rams coaches to lure talent away to graft into their own NFL organizations to try replicating the Rams’ winning culture.

With each year, McVay stretched himself a bit thinner, never offloading any of his own responsibilities, but taking on an ever more important role with the Rams organization. At the end of the 2022 NFL season, perhaps Sean McVay has learned the most important rule of management: Find key personnel, empower them to have as much autonomy as possible, hold them accountable, and delegate everything but the review and control process to them.

In short, McVay held too much of the workload on his own desk, at the expense of his piece of mind and perhaps placing his own NFL career in peril.

Football is a game, and games are supposed to be fun

The key to a long and happy life is not clearing out the in-basket, paving roads, or how much money you make. It’s the journey and the laughs with loved ones along the way. And somewhere along the way, Sean McVay had forgotten to love and laugh along that journey. It’s not always about getting it wrong. Sometimes the best experiences in life start by getting it wrong and then being amazed at the unexpected results.

Football is a multi-billion dollar industry. But folks, it’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun. Months ago, we proposed 3 crazy but fun ideas for the Rams because, quite honestly, the entire team seemed miserable. One month ago, we took a similar approach to the LA Rams fanbase because, quite honestly, many of the LA Rams seemed miserable.

I think that LA Rams coach Sean McVay will be a bit less intense but more effective coach in 2023. He will still try to select the best talent for his coaching staff. And he may still be heavily involved in personnel choices. But I would be surprised if he continues to call offensive plays, and continues to hire close friends exclusively to key coaching positions.

McVay needs more than buddies on his coaching staff. And in 2023, I think he will surround himself with the best in the NFL, perhaps the best staff of his NFL head coaching career.