The Los Angeles Rams will have two offensive coordinators in 2026 after Sean McVay promoted passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase and quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone to the same position this week.
It’s an unconventional approach, especially because McVay is still technically the offensive play-caller. However, McVay has found success in the past two split up his most important offensive coaching duties.
In 2018, McVay opted not to name an offensive coordinator following the departure of Matt LaFleur to the Tennessee Titans. Instead, he promoted Shane Waldron to pass game coordinator and Aaron Kromer to run game coordinator — effectively splitting the two key elements of the offense between two men. The results were great: L.A. finished with the No. 2 offense in the league both in scoring and yards and cruised all the way to the Super Bowl.
While the Rams lost in humiliating fashion to Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, the decision by McVay to deviate from the norm at offensive coordinator paid off.
McVay returned to having a traditional offensive coordinator in 2019 with Jedd Fisch as assistant offensive coordinator, before Kevin O’Connell took over as full-time offensive coordinator in 2020. McVay had a single offensive coordinator every year since then, with Liam Coen taking over in 2022 and then Mike LaFleur taking over in 2023.
This year, though, McVay returned to having multiple men help run his offense.
The similarities between 2018 and 2026 don’t end with split duties, though. In both instances, the Rams promoted two coaches to senior offensive roles immediately after a LaFleur brother left the team — older brother Matt in 2018 and younger brother Mike this year when he accepted the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals.
Spooky, right? We’ll see if history repeats itself in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams found success with an unconventional OC decision before
Reporting by Oliver G., Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
