Sean McVay is apparently considering stepping away from coaching after Super Bowl LVI. This would be shocking but also would make sense.
Could Sean McVay really step away from his NFL coaching career at the age of 36? That would send shockwaves through the entire NFL community, but it certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea, given some of McVay’s goals for life off the football field.
McVay revealed during interviews at the Super Bowl that he plans on getting married over the Summer and wants to start a family. He says he’s obviously invested in the present moment, but according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, some believe that McVay might take a similar path that we saw from Jon Gruden, who won a Super Bowl very young, took a lucrative TV job, and then returned to coaching.
Obviously, Gruden’s time as a head coach came to a very unceremonious end this past season, but that’s not the point here.
The point is that McVay wants to start a family and be as fully invested there as he possibly can be.
With that in mind, you can’t help but wonder if leaving the Rams after the Super Bowl — especially if they win it — would be the best long-term option for McVay.
Let’s take a look at a trio of reasons why stepping away — win or lose in the Super Bowl — would make a lot of sense for the current Rams head coach.
Sean McVay reason to step away No. 1: Building a family has an expiration
Sean McVay is 36 years old. He is by no means past the point of no return when it comes to having a family, but he’s at the point where there should definitely be some urgency.
Now, people have kids at a variety of ages, but this is a plan that takes two. McVay wants to get married and have kids, and once those kids start coming, the sand timer gets flipped over.
When your kids’ childhood is over, it doesn’t come back. For McVay and his fiancée, you would have to seriously count the cost of being an NFL head coach while also having kids.
The reality is, you can find a way to balance most things but NFL coaches are also notoriously always grinding.
Before the sun comes up and after the sun goes down, NFL head coaches are always working.
There is no replacement for those early years with your kids. If you’re a mom or a dad, you understand. Not many parents have the option of saying, I want to be there for every moment.
McVay has that option, and frankly, he should take it.
Building a family and having that time with your kids is priceless. It also has an expiration. Remember the sand timer? It will eventually run out.
10 years from now, when McVay is 46 years old, he will still be able to coach in the NFL. He won’t be able to go back in time and be with his kids while they grow up.
Sean McVay reason to step away No.2: TV has never been more lucrative
Let the bidding for Sean McVay as a top TV analyst start at $18 million per year.
Seriously.
Tony Romo makes $17.5 million per year from CBS as their top analyst alongside color commentator Jim Nantz. There were reports at one point that networks were ready to throw $20 million per year at Peyton Manning.
McVay is already a must-watch and must-listen anytime he’s on a microphone. He is one of the most insightful people in the entire NFL with a photographic memory that seemingly goes back more than a decade.
This guy is tailor-made for TV and networks would be haggling over the opportunity to sign him to a contract.
Imagine McVay going on TV for the NFL Draft and then calling 20 games a year? Even if he skipped the NFL Draft, McVay could easily get $1 million per game from a TV network.
He currently makes $8.5 million a season from the Los Angeles Rams.
Not that he’s currently making chump change, but 5-10 years of doing TV could build generational wealth for McVay’s family in addition to taking away the stress of being an NFL head coach and also allowing him to spend time with the kids he seemingly wants to have.
The NFL season goes from August (preseason) to February. Imagine getting to spend half the year doing pretty much whatever you want while building a family compared to working from dawn to dusk as a coach if you had the option.
Reason No. 3 Sean McVay should step away: Coaching is going nowhere
Yes, McVay would be leaving a special situation with the Los Angeles Rams and a culture that he has helped build which just about every NFL team wants a piece of.
That is true.
However, if he were to spend 5-10 years away doing television, McVay could return to the NFL on his own terms and select whatever situation he wanted to go to.
Pretty much any team in the league — not only those with coaching vacancies — would line up to sign McVay and write him a blank check whenever he would be ready to come back.
Coaching is not going anywhere for McVay. Remember Jon Gruden coming out of retirement and signing a 10-year, $100 million deal?
Imagine the kind of deal McVay could get if he were to leave the NFL for a period of time.
Not only that, but the Rams have a great succession plan already in place.
If McVay leaves the Rams right now, they could easily promote Raheem Morris (their current defensive coordinator) to head coach. He’s gotten interviews elsewhere in the last couple of circuits and would be a natural pick to land in that spot.
Morris could hire Eric Bieniemy as his offensive coordinator and Vic Fangio as his defensive coordinator and keep things moving along with Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, and the rest of the star-studded crew in LA.