As Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams gear up for the 2020 NFL season – their first at SoFi Stadium – they’ll be doing so under extremely unusual circumstances. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused every major sports league to drastically shift how they do business, and football is no different.
So far, three NFL head coaches have already revealed they’ve tested positive for the virus. Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints, Doug Pederson of the Philadelphia Eagles and Anthony Lynn of the L.A. Chargers have all gone through it, meaning the Rams have needed discussions on what would happen if someone on their staff got infected.
In this event, McVay believes they’ve had the necessary conversations, according to J.B. Long of TheRams.com:
“It is absolutely something we’ve talked about,” McVay continued after needling me. “And you know the natural kind of trajectory with the offense and the defense, because you have more (assistant coaches).”
In the rare event that McVay himself became infected, he would hope to stay engaged in every way possible:
“If it does come up, I would certainly like to stay engaged in any way possible, but I’m not going down that negative route right now. But if we had to get on this Zoom and I’m yelling through an iPhone and somebody is holding it up, you know, maybe that’ll happen. We’ve learned a lot more about technology these last couple months than I think we would have ever learned otherwise. So, I think we’d have to demonstrate some agility. No doubt about it.”
This is something that all 32 teams must prepare for, as there is so much uncertainty surrounding this pandemic, as well as the protocols in place by the league.
Hopefully, these contingency plans will never be needed, but it’s something that must be discussed. It should certainly help fans feel better that the Rams are getting ahead of it.
McVay preaches responsibility with coronavirus protocols
In order to avoid potential contingency plans, the entire Rams staff and personnel will need to be vigilant in following the protocols. McVay spoke about this, preaching responsibility and mitigating risks as much as possible.
