If there’s one person in the sports media world that might have the most knowledge about Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and his future plans, it would be FOX NFL analyst and one of the hosts of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, Peter Schrager.
Last summer, Schrager hosted a podcast with McVay called The Flying Coach, part of The Ringer network, in which the two of them talked to different coaches around the league for the bulk of those episodes.
On Wednesday’s GMFB, Schrager was asked to give his take on the rumors that McVay could leave coaching to join the broadcast booth in the future:
“We did a podcast this summer that was 10 episodes of us interviewing other head coaches,” Schrager said. “Sean loved it. He had a bite at the apple at doing this and just talking and hosting. The TV stuff is very real. There is a place for him on TV in the future.”
“A lot of these networks are in a transitional phase. Al [Michaels] might have called his last game for NBC Sunday Night… Troy [Aikman], his contract with FOX is up in the air right now… Sean Payton is now in the pool, whether it be a studio show or whether it be in the booth. Amazon might have plans to, ‘here’s what our studio show will look like, here’s what our booth will look like.’ If Sean McVay enters the fray, you can tear it all down and start all over because I think McVay is the number one hire for all of these networks.”
Schrager acknowledged that the idea of doing TV in the future is appealing to McVay. However, in terms of maybe leaving the Rams in the immediate future, the current quarterback may be the one player that keeps the Super Bowl winning coach on the sideline for now.
“He’s fresh, he’s 36, he wants to do this thing and he’s coming off of a Super Bowl championship,” said Schrager. “So, there is this TV allure and there is this great pull to him where there are offers going to be made. He can make more money on TV than he is making right now coaching the Rams and it is a far easier job… It’s very appealing and I don’t think the door is shut on any of that stuff.”
“I will also say this, he helped lure Matthew Stafford there. He wanted Stafford. I don’t think he would ditch Stafford unless they had a really long conversation about that. The rest of the team, the organization, that’s whatever. It’s not about leverage and money. I think Stafford is the key piece. I don’t see him leaving until him and Stafford have a long talk… It won’t be decided this week or the next couple of weeks, but I think Stafford is the key point.”
If I could recommend one listen for a podcast, it would be to check out the two-part episode that McVay and Schrager did with Troy Aikman as they dove into some broadcasting topics in addition to talking about the game. On Part one, McVay said it was easy to talk football in the production meeting with Aikman because he asks the right questions:
“To Troy’s credit, there comes a level of respect when you can tell whether you are a coach or a player, the good ones, they’re all working at it. The production meetings are always the easiest to me when you are working with the guys that you can tell they are putting the work in and are asking the right type of questions. The week in preparation, there is a level of trust that exists, but there’s also a level of respect. I’m a fan of football and say how unique an opportunity it is to talk ball with Troy Aikman and Jimmie Johnson.”
