Rams head coach Sean McVay confirms contract extension

IRVINE — Head coach Sean McVay confirmed Tuesday that he has a new contract with the Rams.

McVay said before training camp that he was in a good place with the Rams regarding contract negotiations, despite already having his extension done. A story released by ESPN on Tuesday morning suggested that McVay already had a new contract, leading to questions from reporters after practice at UC Irvine.

McVay explained that he wanted to wait for General Manager Les Snead to agree to a contract extension with the organization to make the announcements as a pair.

“I was talking in regards to Les and I have always been a pair,” McVay said. “We wanted to be able to announce that when both of us gotten done. Mine is done. Les is in the process of that.

“But I think in respect to wanting to show the partnership for us. I said you guys will know when we both get done and that was kinda how I had addressed it, but since it comes up again, it is something that we’ve been taken care of, but it is very important for Les and I to kinda have that represented as we’re a partnership and a pair.”

The McVay and Snead partnership led to a Super Bowl victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in February at SoFi Stadium. Snead, the Rams’ GM since 2012, hired McVay in 2017.

But there were reports in the offseason that McVay, 36, considered leaving coaching and entertained an offer from Amazon Prime to join its “Thursday Night Football” broadcast team before agreeing to return to the Rams for a sixth season. It was probably ideal for McVay to leverage his TV offers into a new contract with the Rams, which could explain why his deal got done much faster than Snead’s.

Rams star wide receiver Cooper Kupp was thrilled about the news that his coach is staying long-term.

“That’s great news,” Kupp said. “I’m really pumped for him. He’s obviously more than deserving of that, so I’m glad that finally got worked out.”

The financial terms are unknown for McVay’s new contract, but he’s likely one of the highest-paid coaches in the NFL. He has a career coaching record of 55-26 with two Super Bowl appearances and four postseason appearances in five years.

“I feel good,” McVay said of the extension. “It was always kind of good dialogue that existed. These things, they take time, but I think it’s important.”