Sean McVay knows the expectations.
And why not? He created them.
McVay coached the Rams to the brink of a Super Bowl appearance last season and then watched general manager Les Snead engineer two blockbuster trades that make McVay’s 10th Rams team the favorite to win Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.
With a chance to win another championship on their home turf, the Rams are indisputably all-in. It’s Super Bowl or bust.
Even if McVay will not publicly acknowledge it.
“What I won’t allow us to do is say that his season is gonna be determined successful or a failure by whether or not we win a Super Bowl,” McVay said Saturday as the Rams reported for the start of training camp at Loyola Marymount.
That’s a healthy, mature attitude. Process over results. Learn and grow from the journey wherever it takes you.
In any other season, perhaps that’s enough.
Not this one. Not with a team this star-studded. Not with another Super Bowl to be played in the stadium owner Stan Kroenke built.
In quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Rams have the NFL reigning most valuable player — a probable future hall of famer still conducting master classes of his craft.
To a team that also includes star receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, they added end Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, and All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie.
And Aaron Donald, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, is pondering coming out of retirement.
All of that was put in place or is in the works because the Rams, who won the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in 2022, have a chance to do it again.
Kroenke surely does not want any other NFC team owner holding court pregame on the Super Bowl sideline. Not this season. Not at SoFi Stadium.
So, McVay is taking no chances with Stafford, who passed for a career-best 46 touchdowns last season after sitting out training camp because of a back issue.
Stafford is physically sound, McVay said, but the 18th-year pro will only practice every second and fourth day of each four-day block in training camp.
“Whether it was a weird way or not, we learned a lot about how to try to be able to maximize him,” McVay said.
Rookie quarterback Ty Simpson, the 13th pick in the NFL draft, and Stetson Bennett will have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate whether they are capable of stepping in for Stafford during the season if necessary.
McVay said Donald was continuing to go through his process to determine whether he would return.
“We’ll just kind of check up on each other,” McVay said, “and then we’ll see when we have more information whether or not we’re going to give it a go.”
Donald’s status is not the only uncertainty.
Nacua and left tackle Alaric Jackson were involved in separate off-field incidents in the last seven months that have not, to this point, resulted in misdemeanor criminal charges. But the NFL could still take action if it determines one or both violated the league’s personal-conduct policy.
In 2024, Jackson was suspended for the first two games for violating the policy.
Regardless, the Rams are still expected to be playing for another title on their home turf in February.
McDuffie and new cornerback Jaylen Watson played in three Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, and won two titles.
So they are accustomed to high expectations.
“You know the potential the team has,” Watson said, “but we have to maximize it, and that starts today, taking it one day at a time, laying brick by brick and seeing what our potential could be.”
In this season of expectation, only one potential outcome will suffice.
Etc.
Simpson and the Rams agreed to terms on a four-year contract, a team official said. Terms were not announced but the deal is worth $25.4 million and includes a signing bonus of $14.9 million, according to NFL Media. … Adams spoke to reporters for the first time since the Rams discussed trading him to the Philadelphia Eagles for A.J. Brown in March. “It’s just the way that this business goes,” Adams said. “You got to evaluate, you got to look at certain things and, ultimately, I’m still a Ram and I’m here and I’m happy to be here. So that’s all that matters right now, and I know my teammates are excited to have me here. And just worried about going out and having a good training camp and seeing how the year goes.” Said McVay: “This guy is a pillar for our football team, he is a key leader and critical factor … I think he was able to understand all right what was the reality of it, let’s acknowledge it, but most importantly, let’s also make sure we don’t misunderstand the fact that you’re here because you’re going to be a focal point of our offense.”
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