The Athletic teases podcast mini-series starring Rams coach Sean McVay

The period between NFL minicamp in mid-June and the start of training camps in late-July can sometimes feel like it draws on and on. There are still another five to six weeks to go until the dawn of the new football season. Players and coaches use this time to take a step back, and as a consequence it’s a rare stretch of calmness in the sports world.

Fortunately for Rams fans, The Athletic has announced a new five-episode podcast series that explores the origins of the Mike Shanahan coaching tree—of which Sean McVay is one of the key branches. Rams beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue will host the series that includes several current head coaches in their own voices: McVay, Kyle Shanahan (49ers), Matt LaFleur (Packers), Mike McDaniel (Dolphins), as well as others.

Rodrigue indicated that the podcast will detail the innovation sparked by the four key coaches and will contemplate the consequential “ripple effects”, including the toll paid by players such as quarterbacks Robert Griffin III and Jared Goff. The first installment will touch on the foundations of the first Mike Shanahan offense and how he merged the traditional west coach passing concepts with Alex Gibbs’ wide zone running concepts. This scheme is still used widely across the NFL, though it’s gone through several iterations and evolutions over time.

“The Playcallers” series launches on July 10th at The Athletic and will also be available under The Athletic Football Show podcast stream.

How will the show depict McVay’s personality differences while he was hoping to pull the best out of a young Goff, and is there much to glean on the young coach’s battles with burnout and pressure? Will the series shed a new light on the disappointing Super Bowl outcomes that pushed both Shanahan and McVay to new heights, and what is next for this dynamic group of coaches?