Sean McVay says the Rams’ schedule “starts” with Week 1, then targets the bye and Thursday night

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay has a simple approach when the NFL schedule finally lands. In an interview with Jamie Maggio, McVay said he begins by looking at who the Rams play in Week 1, then moves to the team’s bye week and whether any Thursday night games are on the slate. The comments were not about specific opponents, but about a routine he uses to translate the league’s calendar into coaching priorities.

McVay’s method underscores how NFL teams often evaluate a schedule beyond the headline matchups. Week 1 can set the tempo for the entire offseason-to-regular-season arc, because it shapes early game planning, the tone for preparation at training camp and in the preseason, and the way coaches weigh certain matchup risks right away.

From there, McVay highlighted the bye week. In the NFL, byes can function like a reset button, but only if they arrive at the right time in relation to the team’s rhythm and health. Even without claiming anything about this specific Rams calendar, McVay’s focus suggests he views the bye as a strategic checkpoint, not an afterthought.

The third item in McVay’s order is Thursday night football. Short weeks that come with prime-time windows can compress practice time and affect how teams manage workload from week to week. A Thursday appearance also tends to concentrate attention on execution details, since the turnaround can reduce margin for error as the staff prepares to re-install game plans quickly.

The McVay-Maggio discussion also fits a broader pattern in the league, where coaches and executives routinely map the schedule for operational realities. How quickly a team turns around, when the early-season “identity” games occur, and when rest periods land are recurring themes across NFL coaching staffs because they can influence preparation style, practice structure, and the cadence of staff planning.

Still, it is important to keep context. The interview preview emphasizes the framework McVay uses, not the particulars of Los Angeles’ eventual 2026 opponents, game dates, or distribution of home and away games. Without additional verified details about the Rams’ final schedule, the most reliable takeaway is about process: McVay is looking for the first constraints the calendar places on his preparation.

As the season approaches, the Rams and other teams will almost certainly revisit the schedule multiple times, including as rosters settle and key decisions solidify around player roles and playing styles. But McVay’s comments offer an early window into how he converts the league’s schedule release into a coaching checklist, with Week 1, the bye week, and Thursday night games treated as the first markers to understand what the calendar demands.

In the next phase of the offseason, attention is likely to shift from coaching process to practical specifics: the exact order of opponents and the distribution of short weeks across the year. For Rams fans, McVay’s remarks provide a way to interpret schedule headlines as more than trivia, because they point to the elements a staff believes can matter most before the season begins.