Sean McVay will have all eyes on him throughout the offseason and into the regular season as his historic turn as the youngest head coach in the history of the modern NFL gets underway. And by all accounts, he is more than up to the task.

The thing about McVay that has made him so successful at such a young age is his ability to defer to those around him – to absorb their wisdom and experience and then effectively transpose it into something he can work with. It’s that foresight that influenced McVay to seek out one of the league’s most veteran coaches in Wade Phillips.

In a recent podcast interview with ESPN’s Adam Schefter, McVay mentioned that his relationship with Phillips’ son Wes Phillips – the tight ends coach in Washington – helped him land the legendary defensive coordinator, subtly insinuating that he’s been curating relationships for years in preparation for this opportunity.

“You look at a situation where we were able to get Wade Phillips on board and having a close relationship with Wes [Phillips] the last couple of years was instrumental, ” said McVay.

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Now that he has Phillips in the building and has had a chance to get to know him, McVay feels even more confident about what he can bring to a young Rams team still searching for its identity.

Via ESPN.com:

“Being around him for the last couple of months now, you can see why he’s a special coach, explained McVay. “He’s got a great way about appreciating some of the fundamental things that you take for granted, and his ability to communicate but also empower his assistants. We got in the building early and I was sitting in on one of their staff meetings and I loved what he said and it kind of represents what we want to be as an organization. He says ‘you’re not working for me, you’re working with me.’ “I think that’s kind of a good representation of the types of coaches that we want in our building. Great leaders, but it’s about ‘we’ not ‘me’ and that’s the kind of culture that we’re trying to create in L.A.”

It’s also obvious that the Rams coach appreciates Phillips’ energy, something that has made him beloved in almost every job he’s every held. In many ways, Phillips is about as young at heart as any 60-something football coach can be – a fact that is highlighted by his fantasticTwitter presence.

Schefter asked McVay amusingly about Phillips active social media life, and whether he has intentions of keeping his “old defensive coordinator off of Twitter.”

Via ESPN.com:

“I know, right?” McVay laughed. “He’s gotten after me pretty good with a couple of those age jokes, and I told him ‘as long as you keep these defenses playing like every one you’ve been a part of the last handful of years, you can tweet whatever you want, Coach.'”

Not only is McVay fine with his senior statesman DC tweeting, he finds it endearing – even when he’s the butt of the joke. He said he had a good laugh over this particular viral tweet:

Rams have the only staff with DC on Medicare and HC in Daycare — Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) February 2, 2017

That’s a very good joke.

The early chemistry that McVay has with his coaching staff is a sign of good things to come – and with any luck, the Rams will continue to be the ones cracking the jokes rather than ending up as the punchline.