Like their NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles have a big decision to make regarding their head coach. Nick Sirianni coached the Eagles to an 11-win season but the 32-9 loss to the Buccaneers in the Wild Card put his future with the franchise in jeopardy. ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter revealed on Thursday that the Eagles are leaning toward keeping Sirianni, but it’s not yet official.
“At some point, he’s going to meet with Philadelphia owner Jeffrey Lurie, that meeting’s going to determine his fate,” Schefter shared on Get Up. “Now, the Eagles are acting and have been saying that Sirianni is going to be back, and he very well might be, but until we hear that from the owner and until the owner signs off on that, we don’t know that officially.
“Jeffrey Lurie is the same guy who fired Doug Pederson… fired Chip Kelly shortly after he was hired. We don’t know what Lurie is thinking… Until Sirianni sits down with him and they discuss their ideas and what their vision is for the team moving forward, we don’t know what the final conclusion will be.”
Eagles players emphatically defended Sirianni this week after the team’s first-round loss. Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox told reporters on Wednesday, “There ain’t even no f------ discussion.”
“I love the way the players defended the head coach yesterday, that was the right way to handle it,” Schefter added. “But still it comes down to that conversation with Sirianni and Lurie and what he wants to do.”
Eagles reportedly reaching out to potential new coordinators
While it appears head coach Nick Sirianni is safe, some turnover is expected on the coaching staff. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, both Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman “have been reaching out to available NFL coaches and coordinators, as well as coaching agents across the league to evaluate potential coordinator candidates to join their coaching staff as they plan for the 2024 season.”
This has always been the expectation, though Monday’s debacle essentially guaranteed that changes would be made. After starting the season 10-1, the Eagles lost six of their final seven games, including the loss to the Buccaneers.
One year removed from a Super Bowl appearance and owning the league’s second-ranked defense, Philadelphia’s defensive unit slipped to 26th in 2023. The Eagles continued to slide even after Sirianni replaced defensive coordinator Sean Desai with Matt Patricia as the team’s defensive play-caller late in the season.
Philadelphia surrendered 426 total yards to Tampa Bay on Monday as its season came to a disappointing end. Offensively, the team failed to convert a single third or fourth down.
On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this report.
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