How McVay Held Onto 2nd Place in Preseason NFL Rankings

No other NFL head coach has inspired lyrics in rap music. That wasn’t enough, however, for Sean McVay to overcome Andy Reid in the annual CBS Sports rankings of NFL head coaches.

He’ll have to settle for second place among his 31 colleagues, at least for now.

“If you were starting a brand-new franchise,” wrote Cody Benjamin on Monday, “you'd be hard-pressed to hire anyone else. McVay is battle-tested thanks to six different playoff runs in eight years, two of which ended in the Super Bowl.”

Reid has three more Super Bowl berths in that stretch, but McVay’s fans include rapper Lil Wayne, who used the coach’s name on his latest album, Tha Carter VI.

“Man, I will tell you this: I was like, ‘That is dope.’” McVay said on the Pardon My Take podcast last month. “Hey, so you’ll love this: So, I got a bunch of texts from our guys, when the album dropped last week. And so, I lean over and, my wife is the best; she's so supportive. But she always keeps me humble. I said, ‘Hey, Babe … I think Wayne made a reference to us in his new album.’ She's like, ‘He's talking about another McVay; he’s not talking about you.’”

Lil Wayne isn’t the only one talking about McVay. He’s not even 40 years old but NFL owners have used his name for years when they hire his former assistants as head coaches. In fact, two of the top names on the CBS list – Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur (No. 8) and Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell (No. 9) – are former Rams offensive coordinators.

Benjamin said McVay gets immediate and long-term results from his players, a unique combination among NFL head coaches.

“He's also energetic enough to cultivate long-term growth,” Benjamin added, “Look no further than how quickly the Rams' remade young defense found its footing. Give McVay, who remains a near-unmatched motivator, a competent and/or reasonably healthy quarterback, and you're locked in for a solid January fight.”

Culture-building ability is the reason McVay has improved from fourth on those CBS rankings in 2023 (behind Reid, Kyle Shanahan and Bill Belichick) to second in 2024 and 2025. He’s also the reason the Rams have unmatched hope, even if they falter out of the gates like they did last season in opening 1-4.

“Sean McVay is a bankable asset,” said senior insider Frank Schwab, who ranked the Rams No. 12 in his preseason NFL power rankings. “He will always get the most out of his roster. Even though there are some reasons to believe the Rams might regress, I'm willing to give McVay the benefit of the doubt and believe he can guide a quickly developing defense and a strong offensive core to another winning record.”

Interestingly, Schwab ranked the 49ers at No. 13, just behind Los Angeles. Not much separates the two NFC West rivals, but McVay enters the year with a slight advantage over Shanahan, who ranked seventh in the 2025 CBS rankings.

The top tier in those rankings, called by CBS the “cream of the crop” includes Reid, McVay, John Harbaugh, Nick Sirianni, Dan Campbell, Jim Harbaugh, Shanahan, LaFleur, O’Connell, Mike Tomlin, Sean Payton and Sean McDermott.

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