PHOENIX _ With The Sean McVay Way going in yet another direction as Mike LaFleur takes command of the hometown Arizona Cardinals, the final day of the NFL's annual league meeting is a good time to review how its roots are in Cincinnati and how close McVay came to being a Bengals assistant.

And current Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, the first of five McVay assistants with the Rams to get his own gig, is passing the legacy to his own assistants, such as offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher.

"He made it very easy for me to embrace my role. I'm thankful. That probably changed the trajectory of my career," said Taylor at Tuesday's AFC coaches media breakfast. "Stepping back and seeing what all the quality controls had to do and deal with, I think it's made me the coach I am today because I had to do that, and the way Sean treated me and the way the other coaches treated me. I wouldn't exchange that for anything."

Remember Jay Gruden, who proved the Bengals were right instead of dreamy when they pulled him out of indoor football and the UFL to make him offensive coordinator in 2011? Without an offseason, Gruden broke in the rookie quarterback-wide receiver tandem of Andy Dalton and A.J. Green so well that they made the playoffs three straight years before Gruden became head coach in Washington.

"Jay doesn't get the credit he deserves," said McVay when the NFC coaches gathered. "I get a lot of credit for having a lot of coaches come through here. Jay was instrumental in giving me opportunities I don't think anybody else would have given me. Taking me under his wing, He did the same thing for Kevin O'Connell."

O'Connell has won an NFC North title with the Vikings. Matt LaFleur has won three of those with the Packers. Taylor has two AFC North crowns. Liam Coen won the AFC South last year during his first season in Jacksonville.

It all starts with Gruden.

When he got the job with the Bengals, one of the first things Gruden did is reach out to the 25-year-old McVay, one of his assistants when he was the OC for the Florida Tuskers in the UFL. Gruden told him, McVay recalled, that he could coach a yet unnamed position.

Problem was, McVay was the assistant tight ends coach in Washington, and the Shanahans, head coach Mike and OC Kyle, weren't letting him go. Soon they named McVay the Washington tight ends coach.

So when Gruden replaced Shanahan in 2014, he named McVay his OC.

"I thought (the Bengals) was close. I was excited to be able to stay in Washington, and I ended up working with Jay in the end," McVay said. "I didn't probably appreciate how good Jay was to me until I got in that head coaching chair. I said what a pain in the ass I was as an OC. Looking back on it, I would have fired me if I was you.

"He was awesome. Patient. He gave me grace. He protected me. When he first gave me an opportunity to call plays, it wasn't until things were actually going well that he ended up saying that was me calling the plays. Who does that? It says a lot about him."

It also sounds a lot like Pitcher talking about Taylor. They never knew each other until the Bengals hired Taylor in 2019, and he opted to keep Pitcher and make him the assistant quarterbacks coach.

"I had had one conversation with him for five minutes in my life. He gave me real duties right away. And then once he saw I was able to handle what he gave me, he gave me more," Pitcher recalls. "That's an empowering thing as a young coach.

"He gave me the game management duties and kind of put me in front of the team right away. I had been in front of the unit before, but now all of a sudden, I was giving presentations in front of the entire team. That was a big thing for me at that stage in my career. It felt like a step forward. It felt like I was earning more responsibility, and it was coming from this person who didn't really know me yet. But he decided he was going to empower me to be better at my job. That's a pretty cool thing."

It's also pretty cool because that's what McVay did for Taylor and Gruden did for McVay in a nice tidy line that stretches back to a Paycor Stadium office.

"It's not necessarily your voice being heard," Taylor said. "(McVay) gives you opportunities for that. But maybe you're doing something behind the scenes that you don't think anybody notices that he appreciates and points out to you. It's any work environment. When you're appreciated and when you're doing worthwhile work."

The McVay Way? It goes all the way to Jay Gruden's rise with the Bengals.

Joe Power Broker

It looks like Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is turning into an NFL power broker.

After doing the league a solid last month when he helped inject life into a Pro Bowl game still trying to find the right format, Burrow has NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's ear on flag football after he was the biggest name player at last week's event. (Tom Brady is an owner.)

"After the event, he was talking to Commissioner Goodell. The ideas he has growing flag to expanding things in the league. He takes ownership," says Hall-of-Famer Larry Fitzgerald. "I really liked him, and I'm glad he's one of the faces of the National Football League and that he cares so much about the game and the people."

Burrow wants to play in the 2028 Olympics, and even though the teams of Burrow and Brady got schooled by Team USA , Goodell said at Tuesday's wrap-up news conference he thinks there'll be NFL players on that Olympic team. In direct contrast to what one of the coaches said Tuesday when Denver head coach Sean Payton went Hollywood for a comparison.

"Macaulay Culkin was the international team, and I felt like (Kyle Shanahan and I) were the two guys outside getting hit in the head with the iron and tripping over the garden hose. It's an entirely different game," Payton said, via Pro Football Talk.

"There was this feeling there would be 10 NFL players on (the Olympic) roster, and I'll be surprised if there's one."

Maybe it's Burrow.

"I think we'll see NFL players in the Olympics. They want to play," Goodell said Tuesday after his stint with Burrow and Co. "I think it'll be great for football. I think it'll be great for the fans."

Slants and Screens

The league and the union for the officials are at odds over a deal. Goodell says he's not sold on the idea of full-time officials.

"Our No. 1 objective is to improve officiating," Goodell said in his newser. "We did in the last agreement before COVID have an opportunity to hire some officials full-time. I think it was about a dozen. We didn't see any difference in their performance by being full-time. But there are benefits to being able to work with officials." …

The Florida attorney general has put the league on notice that his office believes the Rooney Rule violates state laws. Goodell said Tuesday that the Rooney Rule, an NFL guideline for interviewing minority and female candidates for key positions, is staying.

"The one thing that doesn't change is our values," Goodell said. "We believe that diversity has been a benefit to the National Football League. We are well aware of the laws, where the laws are changing or evolving. We think the Rooney Rule is consistent with those." …