Sean McVay is the talk of the town in 2026 and made some interesting revelations Monday in Phoenix.
Matthew Stafford is back from an NFL MVP season in 2025 and is firmly entrenched as a starter, but the Rams’ backup situation has quietly been one of the more intriguing items on the league’s offseason schedule.
Could Jimmy Garoppolo return to reprise his role as Stafford’s assistant? Could McVay and general manager Les Snead look elsewhere? The answer is yes — we asked — and includes the addition of another interesting name: Kirk Cousins.
McVay told reporters that the Rams are looking at both Garoppolo and Cousins for the backup job, an unusually frank admission from the coach of a team that has neither under contract.
“Hey, I’d love to have Jimmy Garoppolo back with us,” McVay said on the team’s website. “It’s a big deal for us. He’s earned the right to take his time and do whatever he wants. Is there an opportunity to explore, if it’s not Jimmy, (like) Kirk Cousins? Sure. I’d love to see what that looks like. So those are two guys we’ve talked about.”
McVay was Cousins’ offensive coordinator in Washington from 2014-2016.
On a possible reunion with Cousins, McVay added: “Those are things we’re very interested in exploring, but again, it’s very premature. I know Kirk has some other options and opportunities as well, but he’s a guy that I know, history and a lot of respect for because of the appreciation from our experience together.”
It’s refreshing to get such honesty about two players still available to interested suitors, and it coincided with another revelation from McVay.