It’s often said that Sean McVay is a “player’s coach.” It’s a big reason so many players want to join the Los Angeles Rams and be a part of what he’s built in five short seasons.
Cooper Kupp has loved his time playing for McVay since coming into the NFL as a third-round pick in 2017 and he’s worked closely with the coach over the years. McVay is always open to ideas brought to him by players, truly collaborating with them on ways to improve the offense – or the defense.
Kupp appreciates McVay’s willingness to listen to new concepts, even when those proposals are, well, stupid.
“I do. I love that. We talk about collaboration all the time,” Kupp said Monday. “The thing I appreciate is, no matter how crazy the idea is, you can go in and write up on Sean’s wall, and he’ll tell you, That’s a stupid idea. That’s a dumb idea.’ But he also wants to work through things if he sees something in there that he likes and wants to work through that and find some ways that we can implement things. If it fits within the identity of what we’re about as a football team. If it brings to life the strengths of the players we have on our team, then he’s all about it. So I always appreciated that about Sean.”
It isn’t just Kupp who brings ideas to McVay. He and his teammates come up with potentially new concepts for the offense in meetings and then present them to McVay, feeling like they might have something he adds to the offense.
“It’s fun when the guys in the mornings get together and we’re watching film and able to see things – especially during the season when you’re really game planning for specific looks, specific teams – seeing something and kind of getting that look like, ‘I think we might have something here,’” Kupp continued. “And then there’s this collaboration on the side and then it’s like, ‘OK, let’s go present this thing and see what happens.’ It’s a fun thing. It’s fun. We have a lot of fun with that. I appreciate Sean being willing to hear us out on all that stuff.”
It’s not hard to see why players love suiting up for McVay each and every week. He truly is a player’s coach, and it’s a big part of the culture he’s built within the organization since being hired in 2017.
