Getty If Sean McVay decides to retire after this season, the Rams could end up landing one of the top coaches in the league.
The Los Angeles Rams are having what Heavy NFL insider Matt Lombardo calls “unequivocally… the most disappointing season of the Sean McVay era.” They have now dropped to just 3-9 on the year after a 27-23 home loss to the Seahawks in Week 13.
As Lombardo notes, the 36-year-old McVay has already hinted at retiring much earlier than most NFL coaches. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer told The Rich Eisen Show in early November 2022 that McVay plans to retire when Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp and Jalen Ramsey are no longer on the team.
“Sean McVay’s future with the team is probably tied to those four guys,” Breer said. “In all likelihood, when those guys are gone, McVay is going to be gone too.”
If that job opens up, the Rams could be on a short list of teams with a chance to hire the top coaching candidate on the market: Former Saints head coach Sean Payton.
“He can basically wind up wherever he wants,” an NFC personnel executive told Lombardo. The executive then provided a list of teams, naming the Rams third.
Lombardo notes that if McVay retires, “Payton has the pedigree to quickly steer the Rams back into the forefront of NFC Super Bowl contenders.”
Rams Roadblock to Getting Sean Payton
That said, there’s one major issue that could keep the Rams from being true contenders to land Payton. Lombardo notes that they do not have a first-round draft pick in 2023, and as a result, may not be able to make a good enough offer to the Saints to convince them to free Payton from his contract.
New Orleans holds Payton’s rights through 2024, as noted by USA Today. The price on these transactions usually includes a first-round pick, with Sports King listing some of the top coaching trades in NFL history.
Sean Payton Talks Return to NFL Sidelines
Payton has been open about the fact that he’s itching to return and will weigh his options.
“If the right situation presented itself, I would definitely be interested,” Payton said on the New Orleans.Football podcast on September 21. “And there’s no utopia, if you will, when it comes to teams, but if I felt like it was the right situation, I would have an interest in that. That all being said, that could come in a year, that could come in two years.”
“The most important element is functional ownership [and] front office… because there’s a handful of teams that aren’t, and those teams, regardless of what takes place, they can win on Sunday but they have trouble winning long-term,” he said, pointing out some critical traits of the right organization. “The opportunity to win consistently and the willingness to build the correct culture and all those things.”
Payton was head coach of the Saints for 15 seasons, racking up a 152-89 record, nine seasons with 10 or more wins, and one Super Bowl ring. His teams ranked in the top 10 in points scored in 11 of those 15 seasons, and in the top five nine times. He oversaw a top-five passing offense for 11 consecutive seasons, from 2006 to 2017.