Eagles' A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith address coaching staff changes

Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver A.J. Brown sounds unsurprised that offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and defensive coordinator Sean Desai were both dismissed following the club's collapse across the second half of this season. 

"To be honest, you could feel it happening, but I didn’t really have a reaction either way," Brown told Chris Franklin of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com about Johnson. "Brian is a good coach, and most importantly, he is a good person. I’m sure he is going to land on his feet somewhere." 

While fellow Eagles widout DeVonta Smith insisted during a Wednesday appearance on the FanDuel TV "Up and Adams" program that head coach Nick Sirianni never "lost the team" as Philadelphia went from 10-1 to 11-6, the NFC East team put up little fight in the 32-9 wild-card playoff loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 15. 

It's since been suggested that Sirianni's willingness to part ways with both Johnson and Desai helped save the coach's job through this winter. 

As for Johnson's replacement, ESPN's Tim McManus noted on Thursday that new Philadelphia offensive coordinator Kellen Moore "is expected to have a level of power that predecessors Shane Steichen and Brian Johnson did not" and will operate "in a new structure where Sirianni appears to be transitioning into more of a CEO-type role." 

"I don’t really know much about him," Smith said about Moore. "I’m excited to get to know him, to be in the offense, and to learn new things from someone different. We’re still getting to learn more about him." 

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick could remain available through the offseason (depending on the outcome of Super Bowl LVIII) and was linked in January with the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. 

It's thought that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie could target Belichick 11 months from now if Sirianni's squad flops during a second consecutive season, but Smith indicated he and Brown will simply do all they can to focus largely on things they and their teammates can control. 

"We’re going to continue to be ourselves and not let the moment get the best of us, even if things are not going the right way," Smith told Franklin. "We have to continue to push ourselves in the direction and uplift the guys around."

Eagles captains failing to "uplift" players combined with poor performances could result in Sirianni's departure either after or during next season depending on what happens over the campaign's first eight weeks or so.