Earlier this offseason, the Rams were hit with a bit of surprising news: Matt LaFleur was interviewing for the Titans’ head coaching vacancy. After firing Mike Mularkey, Tennessee was looking for its next leader, and they seemed to believe LaFleur was a top candidate.

The job wound up going to Mike Vrabel, appearing to put an end to the possibility that LaFleur would leave. That wasn’t the case. Not long after he was hired, Vrabel decided to bring the Rams offensive coordinator aboard to fill the same role.

Because he left for the same job, Sean McVay could have blocked the move. He could have prevented LaFleur from leaving L.A. for Tennessee, but he decided to grant him the opportunity to join another team.

McVay discussed numerous times how important growth is with his coaching staff, which is the main reason he allowed LaFleur to leave.

“I was too nice,” McVay said, via the Titans’ official site. “It was something – you want to demonstrate you are invested in helping people grow, and that’s the only reason I have been so fortunate to get to the role where I’m at, is because people were willing to give me opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

McVay replaced LaFleur with two coaches instead of one, promoting both Aaron Kromer and Shane Waldron as run- and pass-game coordinators. LaFleur didn’t call plays for the Rams, so not much will change in that regard, but his work with Jared Goff didn’t go unnoticed.

McVay even admits he might regret allowing LaFleur to leave Los Angeles.

“Matt is a close friend and he did such a good job for us that I want to do right by him. I think I might regret it,” McVay said.

LaFleur will call plays in Tennessee and lead a coaching staff looking to develop Marcus Mariota after a disastrous 2017 season. If he can do half the job with Mariota that he did with Goff, the Titans will be in great shape moving forward.