NFL Honors: Rams' Sean McVay named Coach of the Year

Ron Clements

NFL Honors: Rams' Sean McVay named Coach of the Year image

Sean McVay is the 2017 NFL Coach of the Year after leading a remarkable turnaround in Los Angeles.

McVay was announced the winner of the award during Saturday's NFL Honors program in Minneapolis. 

The Rams went from 4-12 to 11-5 in McVay's first season as they won the NFC West for the first time since 2003. That year was also the last time the Rams had a winning record and the franchise snapped a streak of 10 straight losing seasons. 

McVay was Washington's offensive coordinator for three seasons before the Rams made him the NFL's youngest-ever head coach. McVay, who turned 32 on Jan. 24, improved the NFL's worst offense to a unit that led the league in scoring at 30 points per game.

The Rams had the second-highest margin of victory in the NFL (18.91), and posted 30-point-plus efforts against all three NFC West opponents in 2017. McVay also became the youngest head coach to lead a playoff team in NFL history.

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Perhaps the player who benefited the most from McVay was second-year quarterback Jared Goff. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft struggled as a rookie with 1,089 passing yards and five touchdowns with seven interceptions in seven games. Goff threw for 3,804 yards with 28 touchdowns and seven picks in 15 games under McVay. 

Rams running back Todd Gurley and defensive tackle Aaron Donald were named the offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively. 

Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who has his team in the Super Bowl following a 7-9 record in 2016, was the other top candidate for Coach of the Year honors. The Eagles were 13-3 in Pederson's second season and claimed the top seed in the NFC playoffs. The former NFL quarterback assisted in Carson Wentz's improvements from his rookie season to 2017. Wentz threw for 3,782 yards with 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions as a rookie. He had 3,296 passing yards with 33 touchdowns and seven picks in 2017 and was a leading MVP candidate until tearing his ACL late in a 43-35 win over the Rams Dec. 10. 

 

Ron Clements