Sean McVay was viewed as a brilliant offensive coach when he was hired by the Los Angeles Rams in 2017. Coming over from Washington where he was the team’s offensive coordinator, McVay brought fresh new ideas to Los Angeles where the Rams had Jared Goff and Todd Gurley waiting to truly break out and become stars.
Since then, McVay has been praised as one of the best all-around coaches in the league. While his intelligence on offense is not to be doubted, he’s become a well-rounded leader with his fingerprints on the defense more than they were seven years ago.
Still, it all comes back to his prowess on offense.
FOX Sports polled 38 NFL quarterbacks on the brightest offensive minds in the league today and McVay received three votes, which tied him for third. Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers was first with 12 votes, followed by Andy Reid with eight votes. Mike McDaniel was tied with McVay for third.
Though most coaches would be happy with being viewed as the third-smartest offensive coach in the NFL, it’s probably a disappointing spot for McVay. Sure, he worked under the Shanahan tree, but he’s been as innovative as anyone in football the last seven years and he’s had more success than McDaniel has had thus far.
McVay’s heavy usage of 11 personnel has been adopted by many teams across the NFL – though not to the same extreme – and his offensive scheme with constant pre-snap motion has also become much more popular since his rise as a head coach.