How Sean McVay became the NFL's newest prodigy

How Sean McVay became the NFL's newest prodigy

By Alden Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES -- Jon Embree left his job coaching Washington Redskins tight ends to become head coach at Colorado in the second week of December in 2010. Four games remained in the Redskins' season. Chris Cooley, by that point one of the game's most productive tight ends, quickly became uneasy about what would follow. His new position coach would be Embree's assistant, a 24-year-old named Sean McVay, and Cooley was skeptical.

It took one day to reverse that.

"This 24-year-old kid came in and knew everything about the offense, and everything about everything," Cooley said. "I learned more about football than I had in my entire career in four weeks."

In McVay, Cooley saw peerless intelligence and remarkable self-assurance. McVay didn't just know the offense by heart, or direct his tight ends in great detail; he was able to explain why. Cooley began to see the game from a wider scope and quickly developed an admiration for McVay, even though he was four years younger and never played an NFL snap. In the 2011 opener, Cooley broke the franchise record for receptions by a tight end and gifted McVay the football. Today, Cooley credits McVay for the way he sees the game.

"His ability to understand the game from every aspect -- fronts, coverages, line play, checks, from top to bottom -- is uncanny," Cooley, now a member of the Redskins' radio broadcast team, said in a phone conversation on Saturday, the day after McVay was introduced as the Los Angeles Rams' head coach. "To understand it in that way, and to speak it the way he speaks it, it’s just a love thing. You have to spend unlimited time doing it. And it has to be what you love. When you talk to him, when I talk to him, you just hear it in his voice. You see it."

Growing up with the 49ers

The love began with his upbringing. McVay's grandfather, John, was an executive for the San Francisco teams that won five Super Bowl titles in the 1980s and '90s. McVay's father, Tim -- an accomplished safety for Lee Corso-led Indiana teams -- immersed McVay into that environment as often as he could. As a toddler, McVay would watch 49ers practices and sometimes find himself within earshot of conversations between his grandfather and Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh. He idolized Joe Montana and Steve Young, then later got to know Jeff Garcia.

Tim will tell you Sean learned "a ton" from his grandfather, even though he was so young when John's front-office career was winding down.

"He learned how to interact with people," Tim said. "He learned how to treat people."

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