Sean McVay on not being able to hold team together: “Everybody has to deal with that”

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The Rams went all in this year, but without the cards. Next year, they could end up being dealt a hand from a short deck.

Splurges of the past will likely catch up with the Rams, making it hard for them to pay everyone they’d like to pay. Coach Sean McVay addressed the inevitable inability to hold the team together in 2020.

“That’s something that you learn,” McVay said regarding tough decisions that need to be made for financial reasons. “It’s about working through and figuring out, ‘All right, based on what we do have, how can we make it work?’ I think the tough thing is, you want to see all of these players get rewarded accordingly because the work and some of the things that you go through together. It’s so awesome to see these guys get rewarded, be able to take care of their families. You’d love to see everyone get paid, you’d love to be able to keep everybody. Unfortunately, that’s not real and that’s not realistic. If these guys are getting rewarded, that still is something you can take a lot of pride in. You’d always love to be able to retain your own guys. As you’re continuing to kind of navigate through what’s the best way to shape out our roster, given the financials and all those types of things, those are things that you work through. Frustrating, but something that you have to deal with, and everybody has to deal with that.”

The Rams may have to deal with that more than others this year, given the contracts that have been handed out to some players, contracts that may need to be ripped up in order to keep other players.

As to contracts, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’ deal is up after Sunday’s game. McVay addressed earlier this week the chatter that Wade may not be back.

“When those things come out, Wade and I discuss those things so that we make sure there is a clear understanding of what goes on and we keep those things behind closed doors,” McVay told reporters. “Like anything else, after the season, it will be good for us to all take a step back. Our focus right now is on, let’s see if we can play a really good game against a tough opponent, finish off this season, cap it off the right way. Like anything else, we’ll take some time to be able to really reflect back on the year, look at what some of the things that we need to do as we are moving forward. Part of that, is talking to each one of the staff members, talking to your players, and then being able to have a direction as we progress in to the next season.”

That hardly sounds like a dismissal of the talk that Wade will be moving on. Which means that the Rams could be undergoing even more changes as they try to navigate a very difficult NFC West in 2020, and beyond.