When Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis hired Jay Gruden in 2011 as offensive coordinator, one of the first things Gruden tried to do is hire McVay away from Washington, where he had just turned 25 and was an offensive assistant, and make him the receivers coach.
But Washington didn’t give him permission to go to the Bengals and made McVay tight ends coach while Gruden went with James Urban. Gruden knew McVay from his days with the Buccaneers and took him to the UFL.
“It worked out well for everybody because James was great,” said Gruden, now a Rams consultant, of quarterback Lamar Jackson’s current position coach in Baltimore.
“And if Washington had given (McVay) permission, history would have stayed the same. I would have hired him in Washington when I became head coach (2014), made him the youngest offensive coordinator ever and he would have left a few years later and won a Super Bowl.”
Which is of course, what happened. It looks like Gruden knew what he had in McVay and McVay knew what he had in Taylor.
On Wednesday, it was all business.
McVay, who, like Taylor, appreciates a leader when he sees one, made sure he talked to Bengals free safety Jessie Bates III walking off the field. Since Bates signed his franchise tender on Tuesday, he’s not practicing yet and McVay wanted to tell him how well he thought he was handling his contract situation.
“He gave me some love,” Bates said. “He said he studied me before our game and he has a lot of respect for how I play the game and kind of player I am.”
After asking McVay a question, it’s a lot like listening to Taylor. Each man has turned a franchise coveting and nurturing locker room leaders.
“Every year is a new year,” McVay said after the pleasantries. “I feel good about the player-leadership we have.”
That’s how Wednesday went. It was all quite professional and business-like.
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