Analyst Likes McVay in Coach of the Year Race

Sean McVay was the youngest head coach in modern NFL history the last time he won Associated Press Coach of the Year, at age 30 back in 2017. One analyst sees him taking the honor again in 2025.

Former player and scout Bucky Brooks said Friday McVay is a name to watch – despite current +1800 odds, according to NFL.com – to beat out his 31 counterparts this season.

“It’s time for the football world to once again acknowledge the offensive wizard as one of the best team-builders in the game,” Brooks wrote Friday in a column about longshots who could surprise at NFL Honors in February. “After the Rams overcame slow starts in each of the past two seasons to earn playoff berths, perhaps McVay will walk away with honors for his work with a team that could steamroll through the division from the jump this time around.”

Winning from the jump has proven beneficial in the past for McVay – and obviously has reduced stress. Over his eight seasons as Rams head coach, he’s entered the annual bye week below .500 only twice – each of the last two years. The Rams were 3-6 entering their bye in 2023, and 1-4 at the break in 2024.

Impressively, McVay led the team to the playoffs in both 2023 and 2024. Before that, the Rams were 3-3 entering the bye in 2022, 7-3 when they won the Super Bowl in 2021, 5-3 in both 2020 and 2019, 10-1 in 2018 and 5-2 in 2017.

Obviously, how teams finish means more than how they start. And having Davante Adams to help them finish the season can only help. Count Brooks among the believers.

“As free-agent signee Davante Adams and Puka Nacua team with Matthew Stafford to spark a high-flying offense,” Brooks wrote, “the coach’s superb management skills should shine as he chalks up wins utilizing a complementary approach that binds the spectacular offense with a gritty defense and special-teams unit to outduel opponents.”

Brooks cited several other longshot individuals to win honors this season, including former Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield as MVP. He also mentioned Josh Jacobs as his unlikely Offensive Player of the Year and James Pearce as the Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Atlanta took Pearce in the first round (No. 26 overall) after acquiring the pick from the Rams in a blockbuster Night 1 trade. Atlanta also acquired the Rams’ third-rounder (No. 101), in exchange for the Falcons' second-rounder (No. 46), seventh-rounder (No. 242) and 2026 first-rounder.

The only active head coach who’s won multiple Coach of the Year honors is Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, who won it in both 2020 and 2023. Last year, the Coach of the Year was former Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, who guided Minnesota to a surprise 14-3 regular season before the Rams obliterated them in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

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