On Thursday, the Philadelphia Eagles hired Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni as the 24th head coach in franchise history, ten days after firing Doug Pederson.
Sirianni was one of nineteen candidates to interview for the Eagles job that included Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Eagles assistant head coach/running back coach Duce Staley, and Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Sirianni was hired over the other candidates because of saying yes to Carson Wentz. Many of the other coaching candidates wanted to ditch Wentz for Hurts, and the Eagles hated that. The Eagles are paying Wentz a lot of money and are doing everything they can to convince him to stay.
They want Sirianni to fix Wentz; however, coaches can’t fix Wentz unless Wentz fixes himself. I think that Lurie believes that because Sirianni worked with former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who used to work with Wentz, will step in and change him right away. While many fans and local media are skeptical of this hire, they hope that Sirianni does well here.
The downfall of this hire is Owner Jeffrey Lurie and GM Howie Roseman, who will remain in charge of all coaching staff and players. Sirianni is their new puppet, and if things don’t pan out the way Lurie wants it, Sirianni will be the fallback guy just like Pederson and Chip Kelly.
The loser of this is once again Duce Staley, who has spent twelve years as an Eagles coach. He has been passed over for the fourth time as a head coaching candidate. Staley had support from fans, former and current Eagles players, and experience both as a player and coach.
So why won’t Lurie give Staley a chance? While I would love to see Duce become an offensive coordinator for Sirianni, I think that at this point, it is in the best interest of Staley to go elsewhere.
Many teams are still filling their coaching staff, and the Texans still don’t have a coach. Staley needs to go somewhere to prove that he is capable of becoming a head coach. Lurie doesn’t see Staley as a head coach, and that’s a shame. Eagles seem to never hire from within when the talent lies right in front of them.
As for Sirianni’s staff, I hope the Eagles will consider bringing in former DC Defenders head coach and Chargers quarterback coach Pep Hamilton as the offensive coordinator. The Defenders were 3-2 in the XFL before the season was cut short due to the pandemic.
Hamilton then went to Los Angeles and did a terrific job with rookie quarterback Justin Herbert. Herbert’s completion percentage was 66.6%, throwing for 4,336 yards and 31 touchdown passes. Herbert was named the 2020 Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).
For his defensive coordinator, the Eagles can go several different ways. I think the Eagles will look at Wade Phillips, who did not coach in 2020 and spent the 2019 season with the Los Angeles Rams, the year they went to the Super Bowl in Atlanta, GA. The other candidates I can see the Eagles looking at are former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, former Texans coach Romero Crennel, and former Lions coach Matt Patricia. Or will Sirianni be granted permission to bring someone from the Colts to be his defensive coordinator?
Overall, I’m going to hold out on judging Sirianni. I hope that his presence will help turn this franchise around and get the Eagles back into Super Bowl contention. I am a little bit curious that he has never called plays before, and I hope the Eagles will get him a good offensive coordinator to help him. I ask you shouldn’t a head coach have experience in calling plays? But then we know the playcalling is coming from the owner’s box.
I still doubt that this team will make a quick turnaround because Roseman is still making the decisions, which led to many coaches not being interested in coming here.
The coaches want to have a say in this organization, choose their own coaches and add their own players. However, Lurie and Roseman won’t let that happen. Only time will tell how Nick Sirianni does here in Philadelphia, and all we can do is hope the Eagles made the right hire.
