It is better to work for Sean McVay than for Kyle Shanahan

While Sean McVay’s Rams coaches keep getting promoted, Kyle Shanahan’s leave the 49ers on worse terms

There has been a lot of coaching news in the NFC West this week. Not only are the Seattle Seahawks rebuilding the staff from top-to-bottom under Pete Carroll successor Mike Macdonald, but the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams have a lot of work left to do too. The 49ers fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, necessitating a change at arguably the second-most important coaching job on the entire team, while the Rams lost yet another assistant coach to a promotion within the league.

For the second time in three years, the Seahawks poached an offensive assistant to help call plays in Seattle.

There’s no doubt about it: Not only does McVay have the Super Bowl championship that Shanahan craves and can’t achieve, he’s also doing a lot more for his assistants and for that reason will likely continue to outbid his divisional buddy for the top candidates. They know it, we know it, it is far better to get a job with the Rams under McVay than to get a job with the Niners under Shanahan.

As I wrote before the Super Bowl, McVay’s coaching tree is ridiculously more expansive than Shanahan’s:

Shanahan’s head coaching tree: Robert Saleh (Jets), Mike McDaniel (Dolphins), DeMeco Ryans (Texans)

McVay’s head coaching tree: Matt LaFleur (Packers), Zac Taylor (Bengals), Brandon Staley (Chargers*), Kevin O’Connell (Vikings), Raheem Morris (Falcons)

*Fired

Then there’s coordinators:

Shanahan’s coordinator tree: Mike LaFleur (Rams OC), Bobby Slowik (Texans OC), Klint Kubiak (Saints OC)

McVay’s coordinator tree: Joe Barry (Packers DC*), Ejiro Evero (Panthers DC), Shane Waldron (Bears OC), Liam Coen (Bucs OC), Wes Phillips (Vikings OC), Thomas Brown (Bears passing game coordinator), Jimmy Lake (Falcons DC), Zac Robinson (Falcons OC), Jake Peetz (Seahawks passing game coordinator), Jeremy Springer (Patriots special teams coordinator)

McVay’s tree grows so quick, I may have even missed a name in there somewhere.

Yes, there are times when McVay has to move on from a coach, which was the case a year ago after L.A. struggled to the tune of 5-12. He fired offensive coordinator Liam Coen, offensive line coach Kevin Carberry, special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, and running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples, among others.

And yet, one year later, Coen is back in the NFL set to call plays with the Buccaneers in their hopes to retain Baker Mayfield at quarterback. Carberry is now Tampa Bay’s offensive line coach.

And their replacements, like offensive line coach Ryan Wendell, seem to be quick on the rise. Wendell seems to be the best pickup of 2023 as the offensive line vastly surpassed expectations, but then you can’t discount the impact that Mike LaFleur has had on the offense since replacing Coen and he could be the next to become a head coach. (Although technically he would be off of both trees.)

Open coaching jobs on the Rams right now would include quarterbacks, passing game coordinator, linebackers, and then McVay has some options including assistant head coach, run game coordinator, and various assistants at certain positions. Where would you want to be, under McVay where coaches keep getting promoted or under Shanahan right after he fired a defensive coordinator who had a reasonably good defense.

(I don’t want to imply that Steve Wilks was the third-best defensive coordinator in the NFL just because the 49ers ranked third in points allowed because that’s not fair, but coaches are certainly going to look at that and wonder if he did as good of a job as anyone could have.)

Going 12-5 and being considered the most complete team in the NFC, if not the NFL, the 49ers had zero coaches promoted to head coach in the NFL. In fact, Wilks and assistant head coach Anthony Lynn barely had a look during the interviews. Shanahan is solely credited for offensive success. Kubiak was the only assistant promoted. Quarterbacks coach Brian Griese only got looked at by a couple of teams and wasn’t promoted anywhere.

Meanwhile, the Rams went a respectable and surprising 10-7, were knocked out in the wild card round by the Lions, but produced a head coach (Morris), four new coordinators (Lake, Robinson, Peetz, Springer), Eric Henderson became the co-defensive coordinator at USC, and technically Chris Shula became a defensive coordinator too because McVay promoted him to replace Morris.

McVay or Shanahan?

Whether measuring by Super Bowl wins or coaching wins, there can only be one obvious answer.