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While delivering details regarding the Los Angeles Rams’ injury report on Friday, head coach Sean McVay had to give an update regarding his own availability. He could be ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals, depending on when his wife goes into labor.
He offered some clarity toward the end of the news conference, when a reporter gingerly asked about McVay’s plans for the birth of his first child.
“Do you mean if he comes during a game or something?” he happily interjected. “I won’t be at the game.”
The 37-year-old went on to reflect on the experience and praise his wife, Veronika Khomyn — who he said is expecting their son “any day now.”
“Really feel fortunate that it’s been a smooth pregnancy,” McVay said. “It hasn’t quite hit me yet. I know he’s active right now, and it seems like he’s ready to come at any moment. What a blessing that’ll be, and what an amazing job my wife Veronika has done in terms of just handling the pregnancy. She’s a stud, and so this gives me a total gratitude and appreciation and newfound respect just kind of watching it unfold in real time.”
While it seems like a given not to think twice about missing work for such a major milestone, other coaches have viewed it differently. When former NFL head coach Herm Edwards was working his first stint as an ESPN analyst, he recalled his players cajoling him into leaving a practice for the birth of his child.
“I missed one practice as a professional coach, because of the birth of my child, Gabrielle in New York, and it was killing me,” Edwards said in 2015.
A profile of former New York Jets head coach Adam Gase featured a similar story, in which Gase reportedly opted not to cut the umbilical cord and left his wife’s C-section before she was sewed back up so he could take a meeting with Peyton Manning.
McVay, the league’s youngest head coach, is part of a different generation of NFL personnel.
He’s been honest about his personal goals while leading the Rams to five winning seasons, four playoff berths, three NFC West titles, two Super Bowl appearances and the second Super Bowl title in franchise history.
“I have always had a dream about being able to be a father,” he said via ESPN in February 2022. “I know I love football and I’m so invested in this thing and I’m in the moment right now. But at some point, too, if you said what do you want to be able to do? I want to be able to have a family and I want to be able to spend time with them.”
After the Rams went 5-12 last season, setting a record for most losses for a reigning Super Bowl champion, there were reports McVay might retire. In January, he acknowledged he’d take some time to figure out what he wanted to do.
It was his then-fiancée, Khomyn, who took to social media in February to confirm that he wouldn’t be calling it a career.
In the case of McVay’s absence, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris could fill in on the sidelines. He previously worked as head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009 -11 and interim head coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 2020.