Feb. 1, 2026, 1:53 p.m. PT

Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams suffered a pretty significant loss on Sunday when offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as the team’s next head coach. It was a move that looked likely for the last couple of weeks but now that it’s official, McVay will need to find a new offensive coordinator – which will be his fifth since 2017.

Lucky for him, he shouldn’t have to look very far (or long) to find LaFleur’s replacement. His top choice is an incredibly obvious one: Nate Scheelhaase.

The Rams’ 35-year-old pass game coordinator interviewed for multiple head coaching jobs this offseason despite never being an offensive coordinator in the NFL. At one point, he even looked like the frontrunner for the Cleveland Browns’ position before they hired Todd Monken.

Scheelhaase’s head coaching interviews this year came after he met with the Buccaneers and Jaguars for their offensive coordinator vacancies. After getting passed up, the Rams promoted Scheelhaase to pass game coordinator in only his second season with the team.

It’s time for him to be promoted again.

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This is the most logical choice for McVay. Scheelhaase has familiarity with the offense and McVay’s system, working in it for the last two years. He’s already getting looks for head coaching jobs so it’s clear teams around the league are already eyeing him; it’s only a matter of time before the Rams lose him.

Given his current position as pass game coordinator, the Rams can’t block Scheelhaase from interviewing for offensive coordinator positions. If LaFleur wants to poach Scheelhaase away from Los Angeles and to his new staff in Arizona, the Rams can’t prevent that from happening – unless McVay promotes him to OC.

It’s the necessary next step for the 35-year-old assistant, too. He’s seemingly bound to become a head coach at some point but his lack of coordinator experience likely hurt his chances during this hiring cycle. One year under McVay as his OC all but guarantees he’ll land a head coaching job in the very near future.

McVay is no stranger to looking outside the Rams’ building for coordinator candidates but in this instance, he should stay internal and roll with one of the hottest young coaches in the sport.