Cardinals hire Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as head coach
“We’re gonna (expletive) gut them!” said defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as he rolled up to the stadium prior to the NFC Championship Game.
Most thought he was talking about the 49ers. Turns out he was talking about the Eagles coaching staff.
For the second time in as many days, Philadelphia lost a coordinator. First Shane Steichen took the head-coaching job with the Colts, and now Jonathan Gannon will be named head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Philadelphia’s performance in Super Bowl LVII aside, Gannon’s hire makes sense for a 4-13 Cardinals team that just gave up nearly 6,000 yards of offense and the second-most points (449) in the NFL.
During the regular season, Gannon’s squad dominated opposing offenses. Only the Niners and Bills gave up fewer yards than Philadelphia. The Eagles had 70 sacks to lead the NFL, almost double the amount of sacks by Arizona.
They say timing is everything, and that couldn’t be more true for Gannon. In 2021, Philadelphia’s defense wasn’t much better than Arizona’s. Not only was its 5,590 yards allowed only seven better than the Cardinals, but Philly’s 29 sacks were the second-fewest in the NFL and 11 fewer than Arizona had.
The Cardinals better hope they’re getting the Gannon of 2022 and not the guy who got picked apart by Tom Brady in last year’s NFC wild-card game.
Maybe Gannon figured things out after the 2021 season. Maybe new additions like James Bradberry, Haason Reddick and C.J. Gardner-Johnson were responsible for the team’s improvement. Either way, Gannon has his work cut out for him in the NFC West, and the Eagles need to get working on replacing another coordinator.
More must-reads: