Andy Benoit has written for a variety of outlets, from the New York Times to Sports Illustrated.
Now, he’s joining the ranks of media members who have moved from the world of journalism to positions with teams they’ve written about, taking an analyst position with the Los Angeles Rams.
Adam Schefter tweeted that tonight:
Andy Benoit – who has worked for Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and CBS Sports – has been hired as the assistant to Rams’ head coach Sean McVay/Special Projects. Benoit now will be a regular sounding board and researcher for McVay.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 25, 2021
Though the title may now be confirmed, this had apparently been in the works for a while, according to at least some observers:
FWIW, his name has been on Rams’ staff masthead for a while. Not questioning Adam’s reporting (perhaps the title/job description hadn’t been settled yet); just noting I noticed this about a month ago https://t.co/T1vff0usUM
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) July 25, 2021
Benoit wrote one of the early profiles on Sean McVay, which at least in part bolstered McVay’s head coaching prospects.
how it started: https://t.co/ctvLKHKQAD
how its going: https://t.co/Z8MuWJ8gkr pic.twitter.com/d67DOwVMiF
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) July 25, 2021
Andy has earned the respect of coaches/evaluators through dogged film work and writing. He wrote a profile on McVay back when Sean was OC in Washington. They’ve been in contact ever since. The lesson to media guys/gals dreaming of crossing over to team side? Work hard. Be smart. https://t.co/LwSwuanMgb
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) July 25, 2021
Benoit isn’t without controversy, having had an infamous take in 2017 that there were 15 backup quarterbacks in the NFL better than Colin Kaepernick. (He’s now locked his Twitter account, but his defense of the tweet can be read here. And you can find a fairly comprehensive reply post here detailing how wrong he was from back then, much less now in 2021 with the benefit of hindsight.)
Benoit and the Rams open their preseason with a game against the Ravens on August 14th.