WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – On the surface, an easy and convenient narrative in the hiring of Brian Allen and Robert Woods to the coaching staff would be head coach Sean McVay doing a pair of his former players a favor.
Not at all the case, McVay says.
Los Angeles' offensive staff has become a launching pad for many assistant coaches, and McVay is selective about who he brings onto his staff. In other words, he wouldn't have brought on Allen as an assistant offensive line coach and Woods as an assistant wide receivers coach if he didn't believe in their capacities as coaches.
"It makes you feel great (that former players want to come back and coach for him)," McVay said. "You feel really fortunate when you're reflective of these relationships that are built over time when you start having guys come back around and want to be a part of it. I love those guys. We're not doing favors. It's because I believe they're going to be really good coaches too. It means a lot. I don't take it for granted but why you get into this is for the relationships. I'm very fortunate that those guys are coming back and they're going to provide tremendous value for us."
Allen, who initially joined the team in a consulting capacity toward the start of last season prior to being brought on full-time, will work with offensive line coach Ryan Wendell and assistant offensive lineman coach Zak Kromer.
In terms of what McVay saw from Allen last year that made him want to bring Allen on to the staff full-time, he pointed to Allen's "feel on the grass," Allen being passionate about the game, and Allen looking at what they punt on the center position in their offense from the lens of a coach when he played for the team.
"He's extremely conscientious," McVay said. "He had a great way of being able to bring people with him. He studied the game like a coach when he was playing. Once he got into it, he did a great job with some of the roles and responsibilities we gave him last year. Where I felt him the most was on the grass. I mean, the passion he has for working with some of the younger offensive linemen or even his ability to see things in real time, whether that be in practice or games. I love the rapport that he had working alongside Ryan Wendell. There's obviously a familiarity that he and Zak Kromer have with one another. When Brian was playing…Zak's been here from the beginning. There were a lot of things that made me excited."
Woods, who will be working with wide receivers coach Rob Calabrese and senior offensive assistant/wide receivers coach Eric Yarber, is breaking into the coaching ranks with the Rams less than three weeks removed from signing a one-day contract to retire as a member of the team.
McVay said he and Woods have stayed in contact, and that as Woods was getting into the latter part of his playing career, he had expressed interest in getting into coaching. When Woods called McVay and told him he was ready to make that transition, McVay explained the role and asked if he felt good about it.
"I think he'll be tremendous and he'll be around great guys," McVay said. "Eric Yarber is as good as it gets to be able to train guys with his energy and his experience. (He'll work with) Rob Calabrese and then there'll be some other guys with (offensive coordinator) Nate (Scheelhaase) and (associate coordinator/quarterbacks coach) Dave (Ragone). I think it's a great staff and Robert will provide tremendous value to those receivers."
The perspective of a former player who played in this system will no doubt help them with two of the most important aspects of being a coach: Teaching and communicating. But more importantly, McVay believes what will make both men effective coaches is who they are as people, and how they handled highs and lows in their careers.
"I think they just know what we're about," McVay said. "They've been here and there's alignment. I think one of the biggest things that we really talk about all the time is clarity, intent and alignment. These guys are aligned with us. There's clarity in terms of what we want it to look like. I'm not talking about just the ball, but how you move, how we act, interact and respond. I know what these guys are about. I've seen them through challenging moments. I've seen them stay humble through a bunch of good moments. I think when you work as closely as you do with these players and coaches, you get a tremendous sense of who they are. I feel really confident that I know who these guys are and that's why I feel confident in the projection of them being great coaches. There are a lot of the things that made them great players that I do believe will translate to them being great coaches."
The time commitment and sacrifices that come with being an NFL coach are well-documented. McVay said it's important to inform Allen and Woods of that because of the trust he has in them, but it's still vital to give them a clear picture of what it looks like. At the same time, McVay said they are trying to get away from the common narrative of working all hours of the day because he wants coaches who are fresh.
There will be some things Allen and Woods haven't done, such as "how do you use a computer, doing the breakdowns, drawing some of the Visio things," referring to the software widely used throughout the league to build playbooks. An honest assessment is important, but so too is being surrounded by the right people that help grow and accelerate their experience and careers.
Between the people and the ecosystem, McVay believes both Allen and Woods have everything it takes to succeed as coaches.
"I do think that there are certain guys, they say they want to coach, but do they really want to do everything?" McVay said. "These are two guys that I believe are the types of people that follow through with it and if they get into it and it's not for them, I know that they're going to give us everything that they have. But I've got a funny feeling that they're going to be really good and most importantly, really impactful on the people that they come across. That's really what coaching is about."
