Rams head coach Sean McVay confirms he signed contract extension
Add another piece of evidence to the theory that winning a Super Bowl will do wonders for your negotiations leverage.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed on Tuesday that he has signed a contract extension, per the Rams' Stu Jackson. The terms of the deal, including its length and annual salary, remain unclear, but likely number among, if not atop, the NFL's top current head coaching deals.
A deal for Rams general manager Les Snead is also reportedly in the works. Both men had two years left on their previous contracts, signed after the Rams reached Super Bowl LIII in 2019.
McVay is coming off his first Super Bowl championship after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals at Super Bowl LVI. In five seasons as Rams head coach, he has made the playoffs four times and never posted a losing season, compiling a 55-26 record.
When did Sean McVay sign his Rams extension?
Despite his recent success, McVay had been unusually cagey about his future with the Rams this offseason.
You would normally assume a Super Bowl-winning coach as young as the 36-year-old McVay would be a lock to return the next season, but then McVay started talking about spending more time with his family and flirting with television networks. Amazon reportedly offered McVay as much as $20 million per year to commentate on its new Thursday Night Football broadcasts, a job that eventually went to Kirk Herbstreit.
McVay was quite cryptic through the whole process, at one point dropping a "We'll see" when asked if he would be coaching the Rams again. Even at the start of training camp, McVay was fielding questions about his extension, only saying he and the Rams were in a good place.
So you can imagine an ESPN profile of McVay published Tuesday raised more than a few questions when he was mentioned as having received a raise earlier this offseason:
Months after that morning, as he sits at a table and describes it, McVay is certain of one thing: If they had lost to the Bengals, he definitely wouldn't have this new house. Would Amazon have courted a two-time Super Bowl loser, offering a booth job for $20 million a year, after word on the street was that he had finally burned himself out coaching? McVay isn't convinced. Either way, he wasn't ready to leave his job, and he received a raise.
That last sentence makes it sound like McVay got his contract extension when he was in talks with Amazon, which was all the way back in February. That would mean McVay and the Rams have been less than truthful since then, but the end result is the same. The Rams have their coach (and likely GM) for the foreseeable future.
Rams have been handing out contracts all offseason
McVay is definitely not the first member of the Rams to get paid since that Super Bowl.
In addition to the coach, the Rams have signed quarterback Matthew Stafford to a four-year, $160 million extension, wide receiver Cooper Kupp to a three-year, $80 million extension, defensive tackle Aaron Donald (who had some retirement talk of his own) to a three-year, $95 million deal and offensive lineman Joe Noteboom to a three-year, $40 million deal.
That's in addition to deals with free agents including wide receiver Allen Robinson and linebacker Bobby Wagner. The money is certainly flowing in Los Angeles.
