Would Sean McVay really make the jump to television this offseason?

Sean McVay co-hosted a season of The Ringer’s Flying Coach podcast with Peter Schrager, in which the two interviewed other NFL head coaches about their careers, philosophies, and more.

Now, in the wake of McVay’s Rams winning a Super Bowl, and in the face of continued rumors that McVay might step away from coaching and potentially into broadcasting, Schrager gave his thoughts on where things stand this morning on Good Morning Football.

There may be no person in sports media who knows Sean McVay better than his "Flying Coach" podcast co-host @PSchrags.

So we asked, is McVay stepping away or what?

"The TV life is very appealing, but…" pic.twitter.com/GoSLigLiOW

— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) February 16, 2022

When even the person in media billed as the best-positioned to speak on McVay’s thoughts can only offer a very limited amount of insight (not a knock on Schrager), it’s pretty clear that McVay is keeping his thoughts very private. But at this point, it feels like the rumors and reporting are trending more towards McVay remaining in Los Angeles.

That makes sense; he’s 36, he has a deal for two more years in LA, he just won a Super Bowl, and he has a quarterback in Matt Stafford who is 34 and has another year on his contract. Schrager specifically mentioned Stafford as a compelling reason why McVay would stay. ESPN’s Dan Graziano cited the same factor:

Based on the information I’ve been able to gather, I’d be surprised if McVay were to step away from coaching at age 36. With Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles at least one more year, it’s more likely McVay decides to run it back as long as he has the quarterback he trusts to get it done.

The Rams could obviously offer the kind of contract extension that McVay would have a hard time refusing, too. If that’s what McVay wants, it’s in his best interest to let the rumors of networks and outlets being willing to pay top dollar for his services continue to circulate, as that’s his best negotiating leverage.

Or McVay could coach out his deal, contend for a few more years with Stafford and the rest of the roster he’s helped develop, and move into the broadcasting world at that point if he wanted a break from coaching. Considering the lack of vacant lead analyst positions (aside from Amazon, which remains up in the air but certainly has cavernous pockets), if McVay wants to go into a booth and call games weekly, giving it a bit more time could be in his best interest.

As Schrager noted, obviously networks would be willing to accommodate McVay in some capacity, but Aikman, Collinsworth, and Romo aren’t going to get bumped out for him immediately.

The main takeaway from any of this should probably be that no one actually knows what Sean McVay is going to do except for Sean McVay, and even he might not know. Speculating beyond that at this point feels a bit futile.

[ESPN]