Mike LaFleur loves where he landed this offseason. After getting let go by the Jets, he was hired by the Rams as Sean McVay’s new offensive coordinator. Not only does he get to coach alongside someone he’s known for more than a decade, but he joins a team that he feels has a lot of upside on offense – with a recent history that rivals any team’s in the NFL.
Jets coach Robert Saleh said there were “a lot of inquiries” about LaFleur before the Jets let him go, so he had some suitors following his release. But even if every team came calling, LaFleur would have picked the Rams.
“I couldn’t be happier,” LaFleur said, via the Rams’ official site. “If I could have picked (out) of all the teams, there wouldn’t have been one that I would have rather gone to than here, for obvious reasons. They know how to win in this building, and there’s a lot of great people in this building. And when you can check those boxes and be genuine as a coach, as a player, as a staff member, what else would you want? So it was a really good process, somewhat of a quick process, but it was done the right way and excited to be here.”
Part of what has LaFleur so excited about this opportunity with the Rams is the coaching staff, led by McVay. He knows Raheem Morris, too, who could stick around as the defensive coordinator if the Colts pass on him.
During his introductory press conference, LaFleur talked about his relationship with McVay and where it got started. He first learned about McVay following his interview with Matt LaFleur in Washington more than a decade ago.
“I was fresh out of college I’d say 2010 or 2011, I can’t remember the exact date, but just when he got to Washington,” he said. “I’ll never forget they interviewed him in Washington for the quality control job and I remember my brother calling up like, ‘Yeah, we interviewed a QC and he was awesome,’ and I’m like how good could this QC truly be? And especially (because) he was as young as I was. Now I think we all know what he was kind of talking about. I’d say the first time I met him in person was probably one of those OTAs. Obviously, Matt and him had a pretty tight relationship right off the bat right there so just kind of got to know him there and it just kind of grew. He’s always been a guy that I’ve been able to call when I was coaching in college or obviously just staying in connection with and being able to learn and ask questions. Hopefully I was able to help him out one way or another over the last 10 years and now here we are and I couldn’t be more excited to get working with him.”
