The Denver Broncos have indeed requested to interview Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon for their head coaching position, Gannon confirmed on Tuesday.
That’s all he wanted to say about that.
“I can confirm that,” Gannon said, “but (my) sole focus is on Tampa Bay.”
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SIGN UP HERE The No. 7-seeded Eagles (9-8) will be in Tampa Bay on Sunday to face the No. 2-seeded Buccaneers (13-4), who also happen to be the reigning Super Bowl champions and have the best quarterback in NFL history leading them.
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Gannon’s plate is understandably full this week. And he did all he could to avoid the line of questioning about his football future.
But when will he interview with the Broncos?
NFL
“I’ll sit down with Howie (Roseman) and Nick (Sirianni) and we’ll talk about that when the time comes,” Gannon said.
The Broncos appear to be casting a pretty wide net quickly in this head coaching search as they look to replace the recently-fired Vic Fangio. As of Tuesday afternoon, there are 10 known candidates: Gannon, Eric Bieniemy, Luke Getsy, Nathaniel Hackett, Jerod Mayo, Aaron Glenn, Kellen Moore, Dan Quinn, Kevin O’Connell, Doug Pederson.
Gannon, 39, has a notable tie to the Broncos. Their general manager George Paton was the assistant GM in Minnesota when Gannon worked under Mike Zimmer as the Vikings’ assistant DBs coach. Even back then, many tabbed Gannon as a future head coach.
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The Eagles’ defense has been uneven in 2021 but has been much better in the second half of the season. In fact, they are technically a top-10 defense. The Eagles are 10th in the NFL in yards allowed this season.
“I think Jonathan would be an awesome head coach,” Nick Sirianni said last month. “I really wouldn't want to make a joke right there and be like, ‘He'd be terrible,’ because I really want to keep him here because I think so highly of him.
“But I think he would be awesome, again, for the same reasons that I hired him to be the defensive coordinator would be the same reasons I think he would be a really good head coach.”
If Gannon were to leave for a head coaching job, the Eagles would need to replace him. The most likely in-house replacement would be defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson. And there are now several high-profile defensive coaches who have become available after being fired, including Brian Flores, Zimmer and Fangio.
