Eagles Tried to Offer More Money to Keep New Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon
The Arizona Cardinals took 36 days to find their new head coach in Jonathan Gannon, but they'll tell you it was worth the wait.
"Ultimately, our process led us to Jonathan. Jonathan’s energy when he entered our room it was nonstop from the beginning. All the more impressive (with him) coming off the Super Bowl just hours before he stepped into our room," said general manager Monti Ossenfort at Gannon's introductory press conference on Thursday.
"Jonathan’s vision for our organization matched up well with the vision that we envisioned for the Cardinals organization. His reputation as a leader. His ability to connect to players, to staff, to the rest of his coaches. His ability to work with a personnel department and provide a vision for the type of players that we’re going to go out and seek. It was apparent that Jonathan shared a lot of the same values that I value and that Michael [Bidwill] values."
Gannon spoke for roughly 30 minutes on a variety of topics and even met with reporters for a more personal interview afterwards, and there was an obvious excitement for him to be in Arizona.
Yet that doesn't mean it wasn't hard for Gannon to leave Philadelphia, or vice versa.
When Gannon spoke with NBC Sports' Peter King over the weekend, he said the Eagles offered him more money to stay in Philadelphia.
“I loved Philly. I love Mr. Lurie [owner Jeffrey Lurie]. I love Howie Roseman. I love Nick Sirianni. They came back and they were like, here’s a new offer. It’s gonna pay you more than being a head coach. That’s cool and I loved it there but I wanted to be a head coach and I was excited about this because of Mr. Bidwill—Michael, as he would say—[GM] Monti Ossenfort, and Kyler.” - Gannon on leaving Philadelphia
That certainly isn't uncommon for teams trying to hang on to coveted coordinators, especially with the Eagles losing offensive coordinator Shane Steichen to the Indianapolis Colts.
However, it's apparent Gannon wanted to be in Arizona regardless of the money he was offered from Philadelphia.
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