Sean McVay's "Choice" Evolution
The Rams have evolved how they attack defenses with the Choice concept. It used to be Cooper Kupp from the slot, now it is Kyren Williams out of the backfield. H Choice changes the dynamics a bit. From the timing and technique on the front side, to the design of the back side concepts.
The breakdown below is taken directly from The Los Angeles Rams Complete Offensive Manual. Full season cutup of Choice at the end of the breakdown.
Choice
Choice has been a staple for McVay for his entire play calling career. From Jordan Reed cutting up defenses in the mid 2010’s to Cooper Kupp in his early tenure with the Rams.
Choice is an underneath option route. It works to about 4 yards and has a three way go. Break away from tight coverage (in or out) or settle down vs a soft zone look. This route is the primary read in this family of concepts. It is most often paired with a corner route in a condensed split.
If the Choice route is 1 on 1, the ball should be thrown to this matchup. On paper, the offense needs to be able to win this route in 1 on 1 situations for the concept to be successful.
The concept is nearly identical to Lookie. Choice is the 5-step variation, whereas Lookie uses 3-step/quick game timing.
The concept has evolved for McVay since Kupp left. The Rams now feature the H choice variety, with the running back as the primary option runner.
The Rams loved to call Choice in the high red zone.
The 2nd diagram shows a variation where the Rams use Nacua as the running back, with the actual running back split out to the field. In the first NFCCG clip, this gets Nacua matched up with a linebacker off a quick cadence.
If you want to take a deeper dive into Choice variations, I put together The 2024 Choice Manual on Amazon.
Below you will find:
Why it Worked
Why it Didn’t Work
Full Season Cutup (24 clips)