Whispers Sean McVay could leave Rams for broadcasting job quieting down

It appears some might have jumped the gun assuming head coach Sean McVay could ditch the Los Angeles Rams to embrace a broadcasting gig this winter. 

“McVay taking the golden parachute via the booth seems plausible, but I’ve talked to a few people around the Rams who have a hard time thinking McVay would walk away on a down year,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote for a piece published Wednesday. 

Fowler presented this information after NBC Sports’ Peter King pointed out that McVay may struggle to find an enticing offer from a network after this season. 

Fox is planning on eventually making Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady its lead NFL analyst. ESPN landed the team of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. Kirk Herbstreit is doing “Thursday Night Football” games for Amazon Prime Video. NBC held onto Cris Collinsworth.

“I’d put my money on McVay being back to coach the Rams out of the mire, but we’ll see,” King wrote. 

For what it’s worth, Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico reported on Dec. 5 that McVay earns roughly $14 million per campaign via an extension he signed with the Rams this past offseason. 

Earlier this month, Colin Cowherd and Dan Patrick both spoke about why they believed McVay could accept at least a break from coaching to take a job with a network. That was before it was confirmed the reigning Super Bowl champions would miss the upcoming postseason tournament but also before Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford dismissed numerous rumors claiming he could retire due to health concerns. 

Stafford has millions of reasons to continue playing regardless of McVay’s status, but one wonders if the 34-year-old signal-caller received assurances his coach plans to run it back with the Rams in 2023. Plenty can still occur between late December and when the new NFL year opens this coming March, but McVay is likely concentrating mostly on getting 4-10 Los Angeles ready to host the 4-10 Denver Broncos in a Christmas Day encounter many casual fans may ignore due to the records of the clubs involved.