No defensive coordinator grows up dreaming about being a defensive coordinator forever. They all want a shot at running their own team someday, and Chris Shula is no different. But wanting the opportunity and taking the right one aren’t the same thing, and the Rams’ defensive coordinator Chris Shula made that clear when the topic came up this week.

When asked about his name floating around in head-coaching conversations, Shula didn’t deny the ambition. But the rest of his answer told you where his head really is right now.

“Rams DC Chris Shula said while he thinks that’s the goal for any NFL coach, ‘that doesn’t mean you’re just going to walk away for any single opportunity. I love it here, my family loves it here,'” ESPN’s Sarah Barshop reported.

A chance to be a head coach isn’t always a chance worth taking. You don’t leave one of the most stable, well-run organizations in football for a job with shaky ownership or a five-year rebuild wrapped in a two-year leash. Coaches talk all the time about “fit,” and that applies just as much to the guy with the headset as the players he’s coaching.

There’s also real-life stuff at play. Shula isn’t 28, bouncing from city to city with only a duffel bag to consider. He’s married, has two kids who’ve grown up in Los Angeles, and he’s part of a staff that’s been together longer than most in the league. Pulling the plug on that for the wrong situation isn’t a decision you make lightly.

And then there’s the McVay factor. Rams head coach Sean McVay is still widely considered the gold standard among young head coaches. He has a Super Bowl ring, a steady pipeline of assistants landing jobs elsewhere, and a team that, once again, looks like it’s building something sustainable. Shula and McVay are the same age.

Hard to imagine Shula getting the big chair in L.A. unless McVay decides he’s tired of the grind, and that certainly doesn’t seem close. Still, there’s an opening lurking out there somewhere.

Giants’ potential head coach vacancy

There’s a very real chance a head-coaching job opens about 2,700 miles from Los Angeles, over in New York. The Giants fired Brian Daboll three weeks ago and handed things to his assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, Mike Kafka, as an interim head coach. Now they’re gearing up for a full search, and Chris Shula’s name is already floating right in the middle of it.

“A name that’s starting to pop up, Chris Shula, the guy who’s the defensive coordinator for the Rams. I’ll tell you this, of all the coaches Sean McVay has kind of pushed along to be the next head coach, he’s done more with Chris Shula than all of them combined. These two guys are best friends. He thinks he’s going to be a star,” FOX Sports’s Jay Glazer said.

And history says that’s probably not wishful thinking. Five current NFL head coaches came straight from McVay’s tree: Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota, Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, Zac Taylor in Cincinnati, Raheem Morris in Atlanta, and Liam Coen in Jacksonville. Shula feels like the next one in line.

As much as the conversation around the Rams always gravitates toward their offense, Shula deserves a healthy chunk of credit for what’s happening on the other side of the ball. This season, the Rams are giving up the fewest points in the league (16.3 per game) and have only allowed more than 30 once, in the loss to the Eagles.

So yes, the Giants will almost certainly take a long look at him. But whether Shula wants to leave the comfort, stability, and familiarity of Los Angeles for a project that hasn’t produced much joy in recent years is another conversation.

It’s a risk. It’s a cross-country move. It’s a franchise still searching for direction.