On Wednesday night, the Cowboys announced that coach Mike McCarthy will return for 2024. As many continue to wait for a similar announcement (or otherwise) from the Eagles, here’s something to keep in mind.
If Sirianni is staying, the Eagles might not affirmatively say so.
As one executive with another team observed on Thursday, “Did Cleveland announce Kevin Stefanski would be back?”
They obviously didn’t, even though the Browns suffered an embarrassing loss to end their special season. Of course, news that other assistant coaches were leaving implied that Stefanski wasn’t. Still, the Browns felt no compulsion to declare that Stefanski is safe, even after a loss every bit as deflating and unexpected as the losses suffered by the Cowboys and Eagles.
“Why make a statement that he’s coming back?” the source said regarding the Eagles and Sirianni. “That just makes it look like you considered that he might not come back. That’s what Jerry Jones does. I don’t think the Eagles are that kind of organization.”
The declaration from Dallas that McCarthy will be back for the final year of his contract, apparently without an extension, makes it clear that he’s both a lame duck and on the hot seat for 2024. (Really, if the Cowboys feel as strongly about McCarthy as the statement from Jones indicates, why wouldn’t they extend his deal?)
The Eagles perhaps operate far differently. Saying Sirianni will be back tells the world that serious thought was given to making a change (even if that did indeed occur). Which would in turn make it harder for Sirianni in 2024, since he will be perceived to be on the hot seat from the get go.
All we might ever get from the Eagles is an announcement that defensive coordinator Sean Desai and/or offensive coordinator Brian Johnson are leaving, followed by an interview process and a hiring of the replacement(s).
So while many understandably wait for something from the Eagles about Sirianni — especially after 10 days of seismic and in many ways unprecedented upheaval in the coaching world — the simple reality is that we might get nothing. No announcement. Not even a leak from the team that Sirianni will return.
Instead, the actions will send the message. Once changes to the coaching staff, if any, are announced, that will make it clear that Sirianni won’t be among those changes.
That doesn’t mean Sirianni is 100 percent secure. His predecessor, Doug Pederson, ended up out only three years after winning a Super Bowl because Pederson and ownership didn’t see eye to eye on staff changes. If Sirianni and owner Jeffrey Lurie have an agreement as to the changes that need to be made, chances are the changes will be implemented without comment on whether Sirianni will be back.
He’ll just be back. If he is back. The farther we get from Monday night’s debacle in Tampa Bay, the more likely it becomes that he will be. Even if the Eagles never actually say it.
