The Los Angeles Rams will not have to take a ride on the coaching carousel this offseason, as head coach Sean McVay informed members of the Rams organization that he will return in 2023, the team announced Friday. McVay took a few days to contemplate his future following the conclusion of the regular season, but he is not yet ready to hang up the clipboard.
"I wanted to take some time to really know I could restore and renew the passion and zest I need and after leaning on family and friends and taking time to reflect it became clear to me," McVay told FOX Sports in his first comments since announcing his return to Los Angeles. "I don't want to run away from adversity, I want to run through it."
McVay has been hinting at an early retirement since before the Rams won the Super Bowl last season. CBS Sports Senior NFL Insider Jonathan Jones noted last month that McVay "probably doesn't even know" if he will have the same desire to commit to another season, with ESPN also reporting less than a week ago that the coach's future was in limbo.
If McVay were to have stepped away from coaching, there's a chance he wouldn't have stepped away from football. "McVay the coach" evolving into "McVay the broadcaster" seems like something that is bound to happen at one point or another. According to ESPN, Amazon was one of multiple NFL media entities to express interest in hiring McVay an analyst.
"I think it's flattering," McVay said earlier this month when asked about networks' interest in him as a broadcaster. "I think you said it best, these are always going to be things that you kind of anticipate and expect that are going to come up because I haven't run away from the fact that down the line or whenever that is, that's something that I've been interested in. But kind of like what I was saying earlier, I want to be here right now, focus on that, and that's where I'm at."
The 2017 AP NFL Coach of the Year just wrapped up the worst season of his six-year tenure with the Rams, as L.A. went 5-12 and missed the playoffs for just the second time since McVay took over. Injuries on both sides of the ball affected the Rams in 2022, as they lost important players such as quarterback Matthew Stafford, wide receiver Cooper Kupp and defensive tackle Aaron Donald during the course of the season. McVay, who turns 37 later this month, holds a 60-38 record as head coach.
