Coach

Sean McVay

Head Coach

Sean McVay: facts drawn from the play-by-play.

FanIQ Research · May 1, 2026 · 6 facts, every one from the play-by-play

The shotgun-and-11 evangelist just played 31% of his 2025 snaps in 13 personnel — most in the NFL.

Anomaly

Rams 13-personnel rate by season under McVay

Year	13-pers %	11-pers %
2017	1.2%	82.6%
2018	0.3%	92.7%
2019	1.9%	72.9%
2020	3.9%	64.5%
2021	0.2%	85.9%
2022	0.0%	91.9%
2023	0.1%	95.1%
2024	0.3%	83.6%
2025	31.3%	59.7%

Rams snaps in 13 personnel (1RB / 3TE / 1WR) by year

Season	% of scrimmage plays
2019	1.9
2020	3.9
2021	0.2
2022	0.0
2023	0.1
2024	0.3
2025	31.3

For eight seasons McVay's offense had one identity: 11 personnel, three wideouts, find a matchup. From 2017–2024 the Rams ran 13 personnel on less than 4% of snaps in every single year, including a stretch of three straight years under 0.4%.

In 2025 it jumped to 31.3% — the highest rate in the NFL by an 18-point margin (Pittsburgh is next at 13.5%). The chief play-caller most associated with spread, shotgun football turned his offense into the league's heaviest two- and three-tight-end unit in a single offseason.

Most under-center snaps in the NFL in 2025 — yes, the Rams.

Split

2025 under-center rate — NFL leaders

Team	Coach	Under-center %	Shotgun %
LA	McVay	59.1%	40.2%
SEA	Macdonald	53.4%
BUF	McDermott	49.5%
DET	Campbell	48.0%
CHI	Johnson	47.5%
SF	Shanahan	45.7%

The Rams ran 59.1% of their 2025 plays from under center — the highest rate in the NFL.

For context, in 2021 (the Super Bowl year) 40% of McVay's snaps came in shotgun, and a near-zero share were classified under center in nflverse's earlier formation taxonomy. Even accounting for the 2023 reclassification, the 2025 Rams use shotgun on just 40.2% of plays — a 20-point inversion from the offense Stafford ran in his first year. The 'play-action under center' style McVay grew up in (Shanahan, Mike Shanahan, Gibbs II) is now his calling card again.

Eight years in, McVay's offense is back to its 2018 peak — with a completely different roster.

Trend

Rams offensive EPA per play under McVay

Year	EPA/play	Pass %	Note
2017	+0.042	56.8%	Year 1, NFC West title
2018	+0.147	57.7%	Reached SB LIII
2019	+0.006	62.6%	Post-Goff extension
2020	−0.018	56.4%	Goff's last year
2021	+0.077	61.4%	Stafford / SB LVI champs
2022	−0.088	59.6%	Injury collapse
2023	+0.039	56.7%	Rebuild begins
2024	+0.014	57.6%	Divisional round
2025	+0.145	58.4%	#2 offense in NFL

Rams offensive EPA per play, 2017–2025

Season	EPA / play
2017	0.042
2018	0.147
2019	0.006
2020	-0.018
2021	0.077
2022	-0.088
2023	0.039
2024	0.014
2025	0.145

McVay's career arc isn't a line — it's a W. Two genuine peaks at +0.147 (2018) and +0.145 (2025) with a deep 2022 trough in between. That 2018 group had Goff, Gurley, Cooks, Kupp, Woods. The 2025 group has none of them.

The two best offenses of his career sit eight years and a complete roster turnover apart — Stafford is the only common thread, and even he didn't arrive until 2021. It's the strongest evidence yet that what's elite is the system, not any one personnel package or quarterback.

Super Bowl LVI made McVay the youngest head coach to win a ring — by three years.

Milestone

McVay's two Super Bowl appearances

Season	Game	Score	Result
2018	SB LIII vs NE	3–13	Loss
2021	SB LVI vs CIN	23–20	Win

McVay went 3–13 against Belichick in his first Super Bowl (2018 season, SB LIII) — the lowest point total any team has scored in a Super Bowl since 2008. Three years later he came back and beat Cincinnati 23–20 in SB LVI, becoming the youngest head coach in NFL history to win a championship at age 36.

The roster he won with was built on a sequence of go-for-it trades: Matthew Stafford in March 2021, Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. mid-season. Three first-round picks shipped out for veterans. Three months later: Lombardi.

4th-most regular-season wins of any coach since his hire date — behind only Reid, McDermott, Harbaugh.

Comparison

Coaching wins since 2017 (McVay's hire year)

Coach	W	L	Win %
Andy Reid	106	43	71.1%
Sean McDermott	98	50	66.2%
John Harbaugh	95	54	63.8%
Sean McVay	92	57	61.7%
Sean Payton	90	42	68.2%
Mike Tomlin	90	59	60.4%
Kyle Shanahan	82	67	55.0%

Since McVay's first day on the job in January 2017, only three coaches have more regular-season wins: Andy Reid (106), Sean McDermott (98), and John Harbaugh (95). McVay's 92 wins are 10 ahead of his closest career-stage rival, Kyle Shanahan.

What makes the number unusual is that his roster has churned more than any of the four ahead of him: two starting QBs, two Super Bowl appearances on opposite ends of a Stafford trade, a 5–12 collapse in 2022 sandwiched between deep playoff runs. Sustained winning through that much turbulence is why Rams ownership treats him as the franchise.

Cooper Kupp's 2021 triple crown is the only one a McVay receiver has ever had — and one of just a handful this century.

Rare

2021 NFL receiving leaders — Kupp swept all three

Player	Rec	Yds	TDs
Cooper Kupp	145	1,947	16
Justin Jefferson	108	1,616	10
Davante Adams	123	1,553	11
Ja'Marr Chase	81	1,455	13
Mike Evans	74	1,035	14

In 2021 Cooper Kupp led the NFL in all three major receiving categories: 145 catches, 1,947 yards, 16 touchdowns. Each one a clear lead — 22 more catches than anyone, 331 more yards than #2 Jefferson, two more TDs than #2 Mike Evans.

Kupp ran McVay's offense at a higher target volume than any receiver McVay has had before or since. No other Rams receiver under McVay has ever even led the league in one of the three categories, let alone all three. The 2021 Kupp season is the single best fingerprint of the McVay-Stafford partnership at full health.

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