Slowly but surely, the Eagles’ coaching situation is coming into focus.
Head coach Nick Sirianni not only will be back in 2024 in spite of an epic late-season collapse but is participating in the annual end-of-season news conference Wednesday with general manager Howie Roseman.
Don’t look for either to fully explain why they thought it was a good idea to change the defensive play caller from Sean Desai to Matt Patricia with four games left in the regular season. The Eagles went 1-4, including the playoffs with Patricia. Which brings us to our next business, the interviewing of defensive coordinator candidates after the firing of Desai and Patricia.
Speculation surrounding the next coordinator is running rampant, the candidates beginning with 62-year-old Ron Rivera, the two-time Associated Press head coach of the year with the Carolina Panthers and more recently, the fired head coach of the Washington Commanders.
Mike Caldwell, who was fired as defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars, also is scheduled to interview with the Eagles, per a source. Caldwell was a starting linebacker for the Eagles from 1998-2001.
The veteran coordinators would appear to be an interesting detour for the Eagles, who recently have rolled with 40-year-old guys, unless you could last season’s behind-the-scenes workings with Vic Fangio, 65, whose defensive system has been copied league wide.
Fangio was a consultant for the Eagles before their narrow 38-35 Super Bowl LII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Eagles after last season privately blamed defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon for leaving them hanging during his search for a head coaching position, landing with the Arizona Cardinals. That despite the Eagles offering what Gannon himself called a massive raise. It left the Eagles scrambling, and Desai became the fallback hire.
At this point, the defensive stats of Rivera’s Commanders and Caldwell’s Jaguars are useless, since those units were riddled with injuries. The schemes are interesting, though.
The Commanders played a traditional 4-3 defense with four down linemen and three linebackers. The defensive line was solid, the secondary young and talented.
Caldwell ran a version of Todd Bowles’ 3-4 defense in Tampa, although not quite as blitz heavy as the outfit that made Jalen Hurts and the Eagles look ridiculous in a 32-9 Wild Card setback. The Jaguars played with three down linemen and four linebackers.
Then there is the matter of offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who completed the season but drew the ire of critics in the 1-6 finish to the season. Johnson interviewed for head coaching jobs with the Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans. There was a report that Johnson, the close friend of Hurts, wouldn’t be returning to the Eagles.
If Johnson doesn’t return, it would surprise no one if Sirianni pushed to hire 51-year-old veteran Mike McCoy, a close friend who was head coach of the Chargers while Sirianni and former Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, now head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, were on staff. McCoy is currently the quarterbacks coach in Jacksonville for Doug Pederson.
Sirianni is 34-17 (.667) as head coach of the Eagles in the regular season and 2-3 in the playoffs. Sirianni has two years left on his contract.
Source: Berkshire mont