Nick

Sirianni

The team is willing to give head coach Nick Sirianni one more season to right the ship after he agreed to fire key members of his coaching staff to retain his job. Bedard said the Eagles “could be at the front of the line if things again go poorly” for Sirianni and the Eagles in 2024. With no team interested in Belichick this offseason — following a disastrous final two years in New England — he should be available if the Eagles are ready to fire Sirianni next January. Belichick will be 72 by then.

We’re reading the tea leaves a bit here, but the Eagles have already begun making changes to their coaching staff, and it appears Sirianni has been involved with those decisions. They have already dismissed defensive coordinator Sean Desai, and defensive assistant Matt Patricia is expected to pursue other opportunities elsewhere. They’ve also interviewed former Commanders head coach Ron Rivera for their defensive coordinator vacancy. Whether or not Sirianni would return in 2024 came into question after an unprecedented collapse saw the Eagles finish with a 1-6 record to close out the regular season. A 32-9 loss to the Buccaneers in the Wild Card round only amplified the questions surrounding Sirianni, but Wednesday’s press conference with Roseman suggests the two have come to terms with how they can correct course next season. Sirianni has a 34-17 regular season record and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance in his second season at the helm. While this year’s collapse was devastating, firing a coach who posted a winning record in each of his first three seasons would have felt like a slight overreaction.

The Eagles are conducting exit interviews after a loss to the Buccaneers in the Wild Card round capped off a disappointing back half of the season. Rapoport reported that Sirianni was expected to present a plan for the future in his meeting with owner Jeff Lurie, including changes to the coordinators and overall staff. Sirianni may be on the hot seat if Lurie does not like the direction he intends to go in, but changes are in store for an Eagles team that finished the season losing six of their last seven games.

Sirianni is the architect of the Eagles’ offense but actually handed off Sunday duties to Steichen each of the past two years. Sirianni also hinted he expected to stay in-house as the team replaces Steichen, but that he will consider outside candidates. Unlike DC Jonathan Gannon, Steichen had an exemplary Super Bowl and will be difficult to replace.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni apparently ceded play calling duties to Steichen at midseason in 2021 following the team’s immense struggles with a pass-first offense. Steichen implemented one of the run-heaviest offensive schemes in recent NFL history: Philadelphia had a league-low 45 percent pass rate over the season’s final nine weeks, running the ball on 67 percent of their plays while leading in the season’s second half. It’s a play calling formula that led to ample rushing opportunity for Jalen Hurts and whoever was the team’s lead back in a given week. It also slashed target volume for every pass catcher besides Dallas Goedert. Sirianni in December told reporters he was sharing play calling duties with Steichen. “Shane calls it in, but we discuss what that flow will be before each one, and then Shane rolls with that series of five plays and … it can be different each series I guess is what I’m saying,” Sirianni said. “Sometimes Shane is going to roll with those five or six plays that we talked about, and sometimes Shane is a going to call it in the order we talked about, and then I’m going to tell him, ‘No, I want this here.’” The addition of A.J. Brown this offseason could portend a slightly pass-heavier approach, though fantasy gamers should assume the Eagles will be among the three or four most run-committed teams in 2022.

“I think you see it many different ways throughout the NFL of how teams get it done,” Sirianni said Tuesday at the NFL owners’ meetings. “You can be a top-ranked run team. You can be a top-ranked pass team. The main stats that we’re always focused on are, ‘Did we win the explosive-play battle and did we win the turnover battle?” Sirianni bailed on a balanced offensive approach around midseason last year when it was clear Jalen Hurts would be better utilized as a rusher and the team could use its solid offensive line to bully opponents. The Eagles in 2021 had a league-low 43 percent pass rate, and ran the ball on a stunning 67 percent of their plays while leading in the second half of last season. It left precious little target volume for DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert while generating plenty of rushing yards and touchdowns for the team’s RBs and Hurts. Hurts, reportedly working on his passing in California this offseason, should be in for another year of plentiful rushing attempts. He had a good chance to finish as fantasy’s top-scoring QB before a late-season ankle injury.

Sirianni self-reported symptoms this morning, following Tuesday night’s win over Washington, and he ended up testing positive. He’ll virtually attend team and coaches meetings this week. His on-field status for Week 16 against the Giants remains unclear. Passing-game coordinator Kevin Patullo will handle coaching duties Sunday if Sirianni can’t go.

Sirianni never called plays under Colts coach Frank Reich. That will change in Philly, where he’ll have full control of the offense and gameday decisions. It’s a lot for a first-year head coach, but this doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as Sirianni was hired for his high-level offensive concepts. Eagles OC Shane Steichen will serve as a sounding board for Sirianni and help with gameplanning throughout the week.

Steichen coached alongside new Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni in LA, serving as the Chargers’ interim offensive coordinator in 2019 before taking on the full-time role in 2020 and coaching Justin Herbert to one of the best rookie QB campaigns in league history. Now he’ll be charged with fixing Carson Wentz and developing Jalen Hurts as the Eagles will answer questions all offseason about which quarterback will be handed the reins in 2021. The Chargers under Steichen ran the ball at a top-10 rate on first down even though they notched just 3.9 yards per tote on those plays. That commitment to establishing the run could be a boon for Miles Sanders’ 2021 prospects.

Per FOX’s Jay Glazer, Sirianni “met multiple days with ownership and team brass.” It is in keeping with the league’s recent youth movement, as Frank Reich’s top lieutenant is only 39 years old. It is also in keeping with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie’s tendency to make aggressive hires. Sirianni has had a quick rise through the coaching ranks, starting as a Chiefs quality control man in 2009. He coached wide receivers before winding up in San Diego where he graduated to quarterbacks. He landed in Indy in 2018. The Colts have had an inventive, adaptive offense that had to adjust on the fly following Andrew Luck’s stunning 2019 retirement, though Sirianni was not the play-caller and has never called plays at the NFL level. That’s where the risk comes in for Philly. It is still the kind of move teams should be making, gambling on a young talent and unknown upside.