WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – The annual NFL Scouting Combine has wrapped up, and free agency is just a week away with the negotiation period beginning 9 a.m. pacific time next Monday, March 9, and the new league year beginning at 1 p.m. pacific time on Wednesday, March 11. Between that and a finalized coaching staff announced early last week, there was plenty for head coach Sean McVay to talk about in his video conference with local media Tuesday morning.

More on those top takeaways below.

McVay will still call plays even with additions and new roles on offensive staff

The Rams' offensive coaching staff included the hiring of former Commanders offensive coordinator and Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury as assistant head coach, as well as the promotion of Nate Scheelhaase to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone adding associate coordinator to his title.

However, that structure doesn't mean McVay will relinquish play-calling duties in 2026.

"I've always loved calling plays," McVay said. "I'm not necessarily married to always doing it, but that is the plan, to continue to do that, until you guys (media) say I should pass it off to someone else."

Addressing Aubrey Pleasant's departure

As for the finalized staff not including Aubrey Pleasant, whom McVay worked with for seven of the last nine seasons and previously served as assistant head coach/pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach, McVay said he "just felt like it was going to be in the best interest of both parties to be able to move on.

"We had a bunch of conversations," McVay said. "At the end of the day, he made tremendous contributions to us, but just felt like it was going to be in the best interest of both parties to be able to move on. And not an easy decision, but one that I do think is going to be best for us, and sometimes those are the tasks that we are charged with."

The cornerbacks group will now be overseen by Jimmy Lake, who was a senior defensive assistant last season and is now the pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach, and assistant defensive backs coach Michael Hunter, who was one of the staff's eight new hires.

"(Lake is a) guy that's been a head coach, been a coordinator," McVay said. "Been able to spend the last couple years, two out of the last three years with him, where he and I have worked really closely, and his capacity for the game and big picture perspective, I think is going to provide tremendous value to Chris (Shula) and our defensive staff. He's very clear. He's got a great way about communicating."

Still "working through" pending free agents in secondary; would "love" to have Garoppolo back

McVay had no update on the statuses of safety Kam Curl or cornerbacks Cobie Durant, Ahkello Witherspoon and Roger McCreary, all of whom are pending unrestricted free agents.

"There's a lot of layers to that," McVay said. "You mentioned, especially at the corner spot. Kam Curl is a big free agent for us that we love him. So when you really look at it, those are things that are going to be important for us to be able to address, whether that's re-signing our own or being able to find the different avenues, and there's a couple different ones, whether you're talking about draft, trade or free agency. And so, based on when those things occur and being able to kind of prioritize and then be able to attack has been a good challenge for us to figure out how to put together the most competitive roster. But that's a spot that has deserved a lot of attention because of the contract situations and the different ways that we might lose guys, bring them back, or onboard through the other avenues that I mentioned."

On the other side of the ball, McVay said the Rams would "love" for backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo – also a pending unrestricted free agent – to return, but also understands if Garoppolo pursued another opportunity that gave him a chance to play.

And yes, McVay has seen the reports about the Cardinals – whose new head coach is former Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur – having interest in Garoppolo.

"Absolutely, I love Jimmy," McVay said. "Would absolutely want him back. I did see those reports too on Mike trying to steal our guy, but no, Jimmy's a really good player, and so we would love him back. I'm sure he'll have multiple opportunities and then we'll just kind of see where we're at. But he's been tremendous for the last couple years. We've loved everything he's about. You guys know how I feel about him when we've spoken about him, and we would love him back. But I'm also not naive to the fact that he'll probably have a lot of opportunities, and if those are things that he wants to pursue that give him a chance to play, I would understand that."

What do the Rams look for when evaluating quarterbacks?

While Stafford is coming off an MVP season, the conversation every offseason since the establishment of his year-to-year arrangement regarding his future has included questions about whether the Rams should find a successor, namely one they draft and develop.

On Tuesday, McVay was asked how he goes about evaluating that position relative to where those players are at coming out of college, as well as what he is looking for that he wants to see or or hear in meetings, that would stand out to him.

"I think, I mean, golly, there's so many things, but I think you want to see, are they the type of person that elevates spaces that they're in and people they're around? What does it look like when they're in their most challenging moments? And then the crunch time production," McVay said. "I mean, you're obviously watching their body of work. And the thing is, some guys are easier to evaluate than others, because there's a projection of some of the things they're being asked to do. You don't want to punish guys, but that has been a little bit easier evaluation where if they're running concepts or reading things out, or how the quarterback position's being coached, that sometimes can be an easier translation. But what does it look like for them to be able to execute all phases of their offense? What do they look like in crunch time production, two-minute (drills), third down, red zone, fourth downs? All those things. So I mean that position is so vital, and so the amount of work that you're doing is, there's a lot of depth that goes into it, and there's a lot of layers to it."

Additions of Allen and Woods to coaching staff reflect capacity as coaches, not favor from McVay

As much as McVay loves Brian Allen and Robert Woods, he made it very clear Tuesday their hirings as assistant offensive line coach and assistant wide receivers coach respectively were not "favors" extended to former players, but because of the coaches he believes they are capable of being.

"I love those guys. We're not doing favors," McVay said. "It's because I believe that they're going to be really good coaches too. So it means a lot, and I don't take it for granted, but that's why you get into this is for the relationship, so very fortunate that those guys are coming back, and they're going to provide tremendous value for us."