It was almost an extended vacay for Sean McVay.
McVay and the Rams are getting set to defend their Super Bowl 56 win on Thursday night vs. the Bills. The effective and operating term there is “and.”
For a short time before and after LA’s Hollywood ending to the 2021 NFL season, McVay was potentially manufacturing a ride-off-into-the-sunset moment of his own. There were rumors about a potential move to the broadcast booth, leading some to believe that, win or lose, Super Bowl 56 vs. the Bengals would be McVay’s last ride as Rams coach.
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Ultimately, and thankfully for the Rams, McVay decided to stick with Los Angeles and signed a contract extension that could keep him in Tinseltown for the foreseeable future.
Here’s what happened during the few weeks of gossip that ended with McVay squarely in Hollywood.
Sean McVay retirement rumors
In the weeks leading up to Super Bowl 56, McVay indicated in so many words that retirement was very much on his mind. There was his pending marriage, the idea of starting a family and the desire to strike a better work-life balance.
McVay explained his thought process behind perhaps calling it a career at 36 to ESPN in the week prior to the Rams’ Super Bowl victory:
I love this so much that it’s such a passion but I also know that what I’ve seen from some of my closest friends, whether it’s coaches or even some of our players, I’m gonna be married this summer, I want to have a family and I think being able to find that balance but also be able to give the time necessary. I have always had a dream about being able to be a father and I can’t predict the future, you know? I jokingly say that.
I don’t really know. I know I love football and I’m so invested in this thing and I’m in the moment right now. But at some point, too, if you said what do you want to be able to do? I want to be able to have a family and I want to be able to spend time with them.
ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry, citing multiple sources, reported that McVay “considered working as a television analyst as an alternative to coaching” even before his appearance in the Super Bowl.
That remained the case in the wake of Super Bowl 56: Reports indicated that McVay was potentially eyeing a role with one of the NFL’s major network partners. Amazon and Fox were both hot after him, with a Fox meeting potentially taking place in the week following McVay’s announcement that he was returning to the sideline.
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How much was Sean McVay offered to work in TV?
According to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, Amazon was prepared to offer $100 million over five years to McVay as the streaming service’s color commentator. Al Michaels made the jump from NBC to Amazon this offseason to call “Thursday Night Football”; he will work with Kirk Herbstreit.
McVay says no to TV. He and Amazon were going to meet next week, and Amazon may have gone as high as five years and $100M, according to sources. Rams, obviously, have stepped up with a raise from his reported $8.5M. … On to the next one …. https://t.co/lcRtFjtWcr
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) February 26, 2022
McVay was still undecided in the days that followed the Super Bowl 56 win. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, he had a simple answer to questions about his future: “We’ll see.”
Adding to the mystery, McVay’s then-fiancee, Veronika Khomyn, weighed in on the rumors, saying that McVay wasn’t retiring.
As it turns out, McVay didn’t take very long to make a decision: On Feb. 25, he told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he was planning to return to the Rams for the 2022 season. (He was later joined by superstar Aaron Donald, who also had some hesitance about coming back for 2022.)
Reports at the time said McVay had signed a new deal, but the team didn’t make it official until hours before the season opener, announcing the coach and general manager Les Snead had signed extensions that will carry them through the 2026 season.
This is the Sean McVay + Les Snead extension tweet. 👏 pic.twitter.com/z71ccueI5c
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 8, 2022
Rams fans should thank their lucky stars that they’ll get to see McVay on a sideline and not a broadcast this season — and maybe for many seasons beyond that.
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