This is not an offseason overflowing with hot coordinators and "sure-thing," young potential head-coaching candidates, but teams are looking very closely at one member of wunderkind Sean McVay's staff with the Rams, league sources said. Quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor is drawing a considerable buzz in rival front offices amid a shallow crop of top candidates, and is expected to merit interviews from several teams.
Taylor, 35, is in his second year with the team, with McVay trusting him as wide receivers coach in 2017 and coaching the quarterbacks this season (stream Rams-Lions on fuboTV, try it for free). Taylor spent the bulk of his NFL coaching career in Miami, where he served as offensive coordinator and play caller in 2015 for the second half of the season, earning rave reviews from players and fellow coaches for how he handled that difficult situation in everything from game planning to delegating duties to dealing with the media. Raw quarterback Ryan Tannehill shined under Taylor, a former college quarterback at Nebraska who went on to play in the CFL, and whose brother, Press, coaches quarterbacks for the Eagles.
Taylor is viewed very highly by McVay, sources said, who would love to keep him in the fold. But McVay, an incredibly fast-riser through the coaching ranks, does not believe in holding coaches back, even those he covets, and would vouch for the young coach. He allowed Matt Lafleur to leave for the Titans a year ago as their offensive coordinator, and many in the Rams building believe Taylor is in a more vital position now, but they understand the interest of other clubs in him.
Other teams would ideally love to land Taylor as an offensive coordinator, but with so few top candidates on the market this year, and with demand for coaches perhaps at a record high, it would not be shocking to see Taylor make the kind of leap McVay made two years ago. There is not "the next McVay" out there, as he is something of a unicorn with his unique football and communication skills, but that is exactly what many of the teams seeking a new head coach are looking for with the development of young quarterbacks paramount.
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