Here’s a wild observation about the NFL head coach hiring process that speaks to both how ineffective and maddeningly routine the entire system has become: For the past five years, teams have been trying to hire someone reminiscent of Sean McVay without realizing how the Rams got McVay in the first place and trying to reverse engineer that process.
In 2016, McVay’s last year as an offensive coordinator, the Commanders were 8-7-1 and did not make the playoffs. The team was middling in some offensive categories and upper tier in net yards per passing and rushing attempts. The hiring world was full of people who would bloviate about the young coach as if he were still some kind of ripening fruit.