The Rams hiring of former rival’s head coach might be a sign of Sean McVay’s next offensive evolution
Kliff Kingsbury to the Rams is a brilliant move for both sides.
The Los Angeles Rams recently made headlines with their recent hire of former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who will be joining the Rams’ staff in a to be determined role. This comes after Kingsbury and the Washington Commanders parted ways following a 5-12 season.
The hire was met with mixed reactions. However, peering underneath the underneath here just might reveal Sean McVay’s next move in his offensive evolution, and Kingsbury is the perfect person to help him achieve that.
What Kliff Kingsbury gets out of the Rams
To get this out of the way, I don’t believe Kingsbury is joining the staff as the offensive coordinator to replace Mike LaFleur, who was recently hired as head coach of the Cardinals. The Rams haven’t even begun interviews for that role yet, and thus, haven’t met the Rooney Rule conditions yet. If Kingsbury were to suddenly become OC, that would be largely suspicious.
Instead, I suspect Kingsbury will emerge as either the Passing Game Coordinator (to replace Nate Scheelhaase, the overwhelming in-house favorite for the OC job) or something similar. The Rams have become somewhat similar to the Nick Saban tree in college as a “coaching rehab facility” for names like Jedd Fisch, Shane Waldron, Jimmy Lake, Alex Van Pelt, and Mike LaFleur.
Kingsbury wants to be an NFL head coach again. Learning from McVay, who has produced a tremendous coaching tree despite his youth, will undoubtedly be a boon for him and lets him rehab his image for a new job.
Why Kliff Kingsbury could be important for the Rams
Part of why the hire of Mike LaFleur by Arizona was a blessing for the Rams is it gives them the ability to add new voices and new ideas to the offense without having to fire anyone undeservedly. We’ll see just how much of the staff is overhauled, but McVay has done a tremendous job over the years of constantly adding new voices to the offense, and it’s been a key part of why the Rams are ahead of the curve on that side of the ball.
Kingsbury designed a stellar run game for Washington this season mixing up tempo and personnel beautifully to finish fifth in the league in yards per attempt and sixth in success rate. The Rams were already one of the best rushing teams, but they aren’t a particularly fast offense, so Kingsbury bringing in some of that tempo could be a boost. Kingsbury also is a tremendous shotgun-run designer, an area that the Rams hardly ever use. More gap and counter on the way, perhaps?
Additionally, I wonder if this is the moment McVay decides to dip his toes into the RPO movement. The Rams have long held steadfast against the RPO, but on the limited times they have called them, they are second in success rate when doing so, and Kingsbury is one of the best RPO designers in the game.
Kingsbury has been a master at drawing up explosive passes throughout his career, and the Rams have to continue to stay ahead of that curve without a real explosive threat on the roster.
Perhaps, however, the more interesting element of this is what Kingsbury could bring for the Rams in the long-term. To me, adding in a coach that is almost the antithesis of what McVay has built his career on tells me that McVay’s beginning to adapt his offense, but this time to set up the foundation for a young quarterback.
Adding in a heavy shotgun coach, when the Rams have traditionally not been a heavy shotgun team, who has built a career off of the Air Raid and RPOs instead of the traditional West Coast offense, screams to me that the Rams might be in the beginning stages of unveiling a new-look offense for a young quarterback at some point, particularly a mobile one. McVay has longed to add that dual-threat talent under center, and Kingsbury has built a career out of developing those quarterbacks.
Remember that the Rams hired Nick Caley, Dave Ragone, Jerry Schuplinski, and Nate Scheelhaase in 2024, but didn’t unveil the heavy-personnel changeup in their offense until this season when they had the personnel to run it. Kingsbury could be in the room to help them build up the foundation for 2027, when they presumably have that mobile quarterback (Arch Manning? LaNorris Sellers?) under center.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but McVay never does anything without a plan and Kingsbury is a smart coach. We’ll see what this marriage of the minds brings, but call me intrigued and flat-out encouraged by this hire.
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