By: Jake Rajala

The Los Angeles Rams illustrious head coach Sean McVay has been dubbed the next genius head coach since entering the head coaching ranks for the LA Rams in 2017. The 35-year-old coach that one-upped Kliff Kingsbury during the 2021 NFL draft has gone 55-25 in his short career. 

The NFL world knows McVay is a mad scientist that just came out of graduate school (half-serious). But, do we know of the work and byproducts that are being represented under the Rams ring leader? I believe not. In this outlook, I’m going to outline the head coaches who have learned under McVay and even rank which McVay disciples have been the most impressive. Let’s begin.

1. Matt LaFleur

The Green Bay Packers offensive guru with a more robust haircut isn’t just the best McVay apprentice, but one of the best head coaches in the entire league. Matt LaFleur may have issues with finding WR help for A-Rod and making risky decisions in pivotal postseason games, but he has been a pillar of consistency and dominance. LaFleur has a whopping 39-9 record, 41 overall victories, and he’s helped his aging QB win the MVP award in 2020.

McVay has led the Packers to the number one seed in back-to-back seasons. Nonetheless, the Pack needs to take advantage of the road going through the Frozen tundra — as the Packers HC knows well. In the postseason in 2021, LaFleur controversially opted to kick a field goal and not attempt to score a touchdown on 4th and goal with Aaron Rodgers. Will LaFleur roll the dice more in 2022? We will see.

McVay has had similar success to LaFleur with the likes of Jared Goff and he even has transformed Todd Gurley into an OPOY player. Is Cooper Kupp McVay’s next toy to bring a piece of hardware home? Kupp and Davante Adams are seen as the clear Top two wideouts in the league.

Here is an overview of how productive each WR was in 2021:

• Kupp: 145 receptions, 1,947 yards, and 16 touchdowns
• Adams: 123 receptions, 1,553 yards, and 11 touchdowns

2. Zac Taylor

The Cincinnati Bengals HC and Bengals QB Joe Burrow just won the biggest game of their young careers in Week 17. In poetic fashion, Burrow smoked a locker room cigar after beating the Kansas City Chiefs and winning the AFC North.

Taylor brought his AFC North team from the bottom of the NFL to an AFC juggernaut in just a couple of seasons. Let’s not forget Ja’Marr Chase, who just ousted the most productive season from a rook WR. It’s safe to say he was the right pick over Penei Sewell.

The Bengals go on to win a monster contest against the Las Vegas Raiders in the wildcard round. Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase were exceptional yet again. More importantly, the Bengals defense was able to prevent the Raiders from scoring a game-tying touchdown on 4th and goal with 17 seconds left in the game.

If the Chiefs handle their business against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bengals will take a trip to Nashville to battle Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans.

3. Brandon Staley 

As you can see, the top 3 Sean McVay understudies are clearly more respectable than the likes of the Top 3 Belichick understudies (in the NFL). Brandon Staley has had a very positive 2021 season with the second-year QB Justin Herbert. The second year QB unleashed 5,014 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns.

The Chargers were written off by countless outlets, but Brandon Staley and the company have been firing off on every cylinder. Staley is the third HC on this list and the third to have a winning record this season (9-8). The Chargers had a disappointing Week 18 as widely enunciated, but the Chargers outperformed their expectations last season. All three Sean McVay disciples have displayed fireworks for their respected offenses in the 2021-2022 season.

The post Ranking Sean McVay coaching tree: which coach is number one? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Dylan Streibig

With five straight division titles and consecutive trips to the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs are the undisputed kings of the AFC West. They will be tough to knock off their perch as long as Patrick Mahomes is around.

However, they will face their stiffest competition from a division rival in a long time from the 2021 Los Angeles Chargers for two reasons.

They were really close last year.

The Chargers 7-9 campaign last year is a bit misleading. You can throw out their Week 17 win against Kansas City. The Chiefs were resting starters for the playoffs. Even so, Los Angeles was a lot closer to causing major problems for the winners of their divison and the rest of the league than you might think.

Eight of their nine losses in 2020 were by single digits, including a Week 2 overtime loss to Andy Reid’s Chiefs. The Chargers losing close games isn’t a new thing. Anthony Lynn isn’t the first Bolts coach to fall on his sword because of it either.

Close losses are usually a matter of coaching though. So, former Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley becomes head coach of the other team in Los Angeles. If he can clean up little things, like the team averaging over five penalties per game last year ever so slightly, that alone can turn a seven win team into a ten win team. Now, for the other part of the equation.

They solved their biggest issue.

With Justin Herbert wowing as a rookie and throwing 31 touchdown passes in 15 games, the Chargers have a special quarterback in place for the next decade plus. That is the largest piece of the puzzle for any NFL team.

Protecting Herbert was an issue in 2020 though. Los Angeles ranked dead last in the Pro Football Focus end of season offensive line rankings last year. Unlike the Bengals who also must better protect a special talent in Joe Burrow, the Chargers didn’t just bring in veterans on stopgap deals and mid round draft talents that they hope will work out.

General manager Tom Telesco brought in former Packers All-Pro center Corey Linsley on a five year deal that made him the highest paid center in football. Then, Rayshawn Slater fell into Telesco’s lap on night one of the NFL Draft. Slater was arguably the top offensive tackle prospect in the draft. Thanks to these moves, injuries are the only thing that could keep the Chargers offensive line from vast improvement in 2021. The roster also has a diverse group of running backs led by Austin Ekeler who has career averages of over four yards per carry and nine yards per catch.

There are some really nice pieces on defense too. Joey Bosa entered the league prior to the 2016 season and has never had fewer than 5.5 sacks in a season. Adding a talented rookie like Asante Samuel Jr. to a secondary that already has a savvy veteran in four time Pro-Bowler Chris Harris Jr. and a still emerging talent like Derwin James makes for a fine defensive backfield, provided James can stay healthy.

Concerns

On paper, the Chargers don’t have many. Obviously, any time a rookie head coach like Staley is in the picture, it is a bit of an unknown. Other than that and the need for a third pass catcher to emerge behind the productive but brittle duo of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, the sky is the limit for the Chargers in 2021. With Denver still having issues at quarterback and the Raiders roster lacking talent beyond a few capable offensive weapons, Los Angeles is the only division rival that can make the mighty Chiefs sweat this year.

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