Each year at the NFL’s owners meetings, coaches get together for a group photo. Perfect attendance is rare and this year, there were six coaches missing from the picture. Sean McVay was among them, the first time he’s been absent from the photo since becoming the Rams’ head coach in 2017.
The picture was lacking his perfectly manicured hair and tailored suit, which Twitter was quick to notice.
So why exactly did McVay miss the picture? Did he have a bad hair day? Was there some sort of emergency? Did Sean Payton interfere with McVay and prevent him from getting into the group shot?
The correct answer is none of the above, actually. At the coaches breakfast on Tuesday morning, McVay told Peter Schrager of NFL Network why he missed the picture, pinning it on Rams PR guy Artis Twyman. The 33-year-old coach was actually relaxing by the pool, thinking the photo was canceled.
“I was dressed, ready for that photo yesterday. That is Artis Twyman, our PR guy’s fault,” McVay said jokingly. “Artis said the photo’s canceled, I was at the pool relaxing and they said the photo’s back on. … I was ready for it yesterday. It was not an intentional move to miss the photo. I didn’t want to be the guy thinking he’s too cool to miss the photo. Artis Twyman, great at everything else except the photo yesterday.”
So as it turns out, the youngest head coach in the league wasn’t too cool for the picture. He wanted to be a part of it, there was just a miscommunication between him and Twyman. No harm, no foul.
