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Connor Orr of Sports Illustrated sent this memo out to NFL teams for this next hiring cycle on Wednesday, December 28: There are Los Angeles Rams assistants from the Sean McVay tree who are still worth a look — once you look past their record.
And Orr zeroed in on one assistant head coach who’s been a hot commodity in coaching searches before, saying it’s now the “perfect time” to hire him.
“Don’t let the Rams’ record, statistics or injuries fool you: Assistant head coach Thomas Brown could be the next great disciple to rescue an NFL franchise,” Orr stated.
Orr Brings up ‘Wild Observation’ Involving McVay
Orr believes the 36-year-old is deserving of a coaching elevation. He additionally added what he called a “wild observation” that involves McVay and how his hiring process went.
“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,” Orr said.
Orr then traced back to the season before McVay got lured into the “Rams House.” He was the offensive coordinator for a Washington team that also missed the playoffs at 8-7-1. That Washington team was third in yards, but 21st in rushing and ranking in the middle of other offensive categories.
“Of course, as the fairy tale goes now, McVay blew the Rams away in an interview,” Orr said. “They actually listened to him instead of trying to press him onto a movie poster they could use to sell tickets. They decided to take a chance, and the rest of the search firms, GMs [general managers] and owners who hired the milquetoast coordinator du jour that cycle were left to explain why they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it.”
That’s why Orr believes McVay’s situation back in 2017 correlates to the assistant coach/running backs/tight ends coach Brown.
“I was thinking about this recently in regard to Thomas Brown,” Orr said. “Los Angeles is 5–10 and 31st in yards gained this year. It is 30th in passing yards per attempt and 29th in rushing yards per attempt. And, yet, it’s the perfect time to hire someone from the McVay tree, just like an uninspiring performance from Washington in 2016 was the perfect time to hire McVay before anyone else figured out it was a good idea.”
Brown Has Been on Coaching Radar Before
Noted by NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, Brown was on the list of head coaching candidates for the Miami Dolphins last season before the gig went to Mike McDaniel.
“McVay calls Brown ‘one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever been around.’ The two won the Super Bowl together last season, and Brown got his first head coaching interview with the Dolphins in January (2021),” Pelissero wrote in his listings of top head coaching candidates for 2023.
While this season was filled with an injury pileup and a long losing streak that also covered the month of November, Brown had an involvement in rejuvenating the career of Cam Akers while also helping get Tyler Higbee to shatter new franchise records for a tight end. Orr said that Brown’s ability to attract with his personality makes him a prime fit.
“As the son of a pastor, he’s a dynamic leader who can grab a room by the shirt collar. As a former player, he is uniquely sympathetic to the plight of the individual player,” Orr stated. “Brown is helping a Rams offense with nothing left stay positive and find the marginal gains necessary to make this a salvageable season.”
And if Brown gets hired, he becomes the fourth offensive assistant from McVay to land a HC gig — joining Matt LaFleur, Zac Taylor and Kevin O’Connell.
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