LOS ANGELES -- Sean McVay has spent a significant portion of his first three months as an NFL head coach seeking out advice. And one of his central guides has been Adam Gase, fresh off a successful first season guiding the Miami Dolphins. McVay and Gase were part of a group of young, offensive-minded coaches who clung together at the major offseason events. At the scouting combine, you would usually find them huddled near the end zone, often-times listening to long-time coach Clyde Christensen tell stories about Peyton Manning.

"Some guys have gone on to college, some guys have stayed in the pros," Gase said. "There's a good group of us that have hung around long enough to where we became coordinators and head coaches."

Sean McVay sought advice from many head coaches during the NFL owners meeting. Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire

McVay now falls into the latter section of that group, as the 31-year-old rookie head coach for the Los Angeles Rams. He is the youngest head coach in the NFL's modern era, but Gase isn't too far off. He was 38 years old when he guided the Dolphins to their first playoff appearance in eight years this past season. And since then, Gase has openly shared the lessons of his first year with McVay. Most of their talks have centered on time management, because, as Gase said, "You don't really realize how many people walk in and out of your office, how many things you're going to have to deal with that you never really anticipated, until you go through it."

"Sean's smart," said Gase, who called the offensive plays in his first year in Miami, as McVay intends to do. "I'm probably not the only one that he's talked to. He's probably combed most of the league trying to figure out what's the best way to go about this first year. You have to learn on the fly a little bit. The fact that he's doing that (seeking advice) is going to give him a little bit more of an advantage than probably a couple of us had last year.”

McVay was influenced mostly by the two Grudens, Jon and Jay, and the two Shanahans, Mike and Kyle.

During the NFL owners meetings this week, he began to pick everyone else's brain.

McVay sat down with Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn to ask him about how he handled his first team meeting. He bumped into Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh at check-in, walked the halls with Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter, chatted with New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and got a chance to learn from Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, a man whose distinctive presence he admires.

"This is probably the first time that it's starting to kind of set in, what a unique experience it is," McVay told the assembled media during breakfast on Wednesday, his final day at his first owners meetings. "You actually slow down a little bit when you come to these, as opposed to how fast things are going back in L.A. and trying to get everything settled and situated. What a unique thing and what a refreshing experience it has been with how willing everyone has been to share.”

McVay's first on-the-job learning came long before that, from Wade Phillips, his 69-year-old defensive coordinator. The Rams will begin their voluntary offseason program on April 10, and McVay planned on meeting with the entire team for about half an hour at the start of each week. But then Phillips approached him and suggested meeting with the entire team each day, so that everyone feels connected.

They'll do that now.

"He's got a subtle way about just what he picks up on and what he notices, just those fundamental things," McVay said of Phillips. "You quickly realize why he's such a good coach. I know I'm going to learn a lot from him. "