For seven years, Sean McVay was the youngest coach in the league. With two coaches younger than him now in the league, and with several coaches older than him gone (for now), McVay is moving up in the world, as a member of the Competition Committee.
He was asked about the assignment by reporters on Thursday.
“I’m humbled and I’m flattered that they would even consider to ask me,” McVay said. “When you go to these league meetings over the last handful of years I’ve always been interested and intrigued about, OK, how can you affect positive change? How can you have an understanding of moving the game in the right direction? I think there are coaches and there are front office members that have done a great job of setting an example. When [NFL executive V.P. of football operations] Troy Vincent and [Commissioner] Roger Goodell reached out I was flattered. Kind of wanted to understand, all right, what are some of the commitments? How can I try to be a valuable contributor to that? Certainly looking forward to being able to learn and grow and see if we can help do some good things, but I was certainly flattered to be a part of that.”
It will be extra work. It also gives him a seat at the table that helps set the table for ownership. Even though the owners can do whatever they choose to do when the time comes to vote on proposed rule changes (and they hardly rubber stamp the committee’s proposals), the Competition Committee tries to guide them. McVay now has a voice in that process.
He has definitely earned it. And there’s plenty of work to be done, from figuring out a solution to the kickoff to deciding what to do about the hip-drop tackle and plenty more. The fact that McVay is new and that he got the spot from Vincent and Goodell could also make him more inclined, at least for now, to go along with whatever changes they seem to support.
And that’s the most important thing to remember here. Sure, there’s a Competition Committee. But the Commissioner has a way of making his wishes known. In the short term, McVay might feel obliged to go along with whatever the Commissioner appears to want.
