Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach and passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant took over for Sean McVay as the team’s head coach during Saturday’s 13-9 preseason win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
McVay announced earlier in the week that he would be passing off head coaching duties to Pleasant for Saturday’s game to give Pleasant practice serving as a head coach during an NFL game. Before he became a head coach, McVay was given the same invaluable experience of coaching preseason games with Washington under then-head coach Jay Gruden and wanted to give the same chance to his assistant coach.
In addition to coaching during the game, Pleasant got a whole week of preparation as head coach, taking on the duties he would see if he became an NFL head coach one day.
The moment was special to not just Pleasant, but to several of his players including John Johnson III. Pleasant was the Rams’ defensive backs coach last season, and previously the team’s cornerbacks coach from 2017-20. The team’s defensive backs were all watching Pleasant on Saturday.
“I could see how important it was,” John Johnson said, via The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue. “he’s just so well-deserving of it. He earned it. He took advantage of it. … I’ve seen him grow up as a coach, as a leader. It was just awesome to watch (and) it meant a lot to everybody. … I think the guys went out there and competed for him.”
Pleasant earned a win in his NFL head coaching debut and was given the game ball afterward. More importantly, though, he gained reps talking to the refs and figuring out when to pull out the challenge flag. After the game, he expressed his gratitude toward the Rams for the opportunity.
“First, I would like to thank this organization,” Pleasant said. “I would like to thank McVay, but specifically I would like to thank [general manager] Les (Snead), [team president] Kevin [Demoff] and (vice president of football & business administration) Tony (Pastoors) for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to represent our organization for this game.”
The Rams have one more preseason game remaining against the Houston Texans next Saturday. Two weeks later, the team will begin the regular season on Sep. 8 against the Detroit Lions.
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