Nate Scheelhaase Reportedly Named Rams OC, What's Next for Matthew Stafford and LA?

After emerging as a popular head coaching candidate during his offseason cycle, the Los Angeles Rams are giving Nate Scheelhaase a promotion for the 2026 season.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Scheelhaase will take over as the Rams offensive coordinator after Mike LaFleur left to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

As Schefter also pointed out, the Rams promoting Scheelhaase means that 21 of the NFL's 32 teams will have new offensive coordinators next season.

Scheelhaase interviewed with five different teams for head coaching jobs, including getting a second meeting with the Cleveland Browns before they ultimately decided to go with Todd Monken.

The 35-year-old Scheelhaase has had a quick ascent up the NFL coaching ranks. He has only been in the league for two seasons, being hired by the Rams in March 2024 as their passing game specialist and an offensive assistant.

Rams head coach Sean McVay bumped up Scheelhaase's title to passing game coordinator for the 2025 season.

With Scheelhaase as the passing game coordinator, Matthew Stafford won the MVP award after throwing for 4,707 yards and a career-high 47 touchdowns.

The Rams led the NFL in scoring offense with 518 points during the regular season. They put up 81 points in three playoff games, including 27 against the Seattle Seahawks defense in the NFC Championship Game.

Seattle allowed a total of 19 points in its two other playoff games against the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots.

Even though most of the offensive play-calling responsibilities for the Rams gets handled by McVay, he has said that his previous coordinators do a lot of the installs and teach plays throughout the week leading up to games and go through various situational scenarios during games.

Retaining Scheelhaase allows the Rams to maintain even more continuity for an offense that worked as well as any individual unit throughout the 2025 season.

Stafford has already confirmed he will be back with the Rams in 2026, so the pieces are still in place for them to be a Super Bowl contender in the NFC.