Eagles Running it Back with Replacement Part to Fix Carson Wentz
PHILADELPHIA - You got the job as the next big thing to the only Super Bowl-winning coach in Eagles history, all at the tender age of 39.
Now go fix Carson Wentz.
That's the marching orders for Nick Sirianni, the former right-hand man for Frank Reich with the Indianapolis Colts and the new head coach in Philadelphia.
Sirianni will arrive at the NovaCare Complex with no play-calling experience but hands-on, day-to-day work as a former position coach for Philip Rivers in San Diego and the OC for Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, and Rivers again with the Colts.
Pederson finds himself unemployed for a couple of reasons: an allegiance to apprentice Press Taylor and his “fractured” relationship with Wentz, the $128 million quarterback whose on-field play regressed at historic levels in 2020 before he was finally benched for rookie Jalen Hurts in Green Bay on Dec. 6.
With nary a path for wiggle room from a financial standpoint until 2022, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted plans to repair Wentz, not only from Pederson but the 10 candidates who interviewed for the job once the former coach was set adrift on Jan. 11.
The path to Sirianni, the ninth of those 10 hopefuls to talk with Lurie and his search committee, was embedded in Wentz’s past.
Wentz played his best football when current Colts coach Frank Reich was the offensive coordinator with the Eagles and Sirianni is the closest thing the Eagles can get to Reich as his right-hand man when it came to the Indianapolis offense.
Of course, Reich's offense is very similar to Pederson's right down to the terminology.
"Did the Eagles just hire a younger Doug?" one player joked when texting SI.com's Eagle Maven
It was a strange development with all signs pointing to New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, another supposed QB guru with more of an edge, getting the job earlier in the week with some assistant coaches even starting to think about life outside of Philadelphia.
That started to change when Sirianni arrived on Palm Beach Island for his interview on Tuesday, a session that went so well it bled over into Wednesday.
From there funny things started to happen. All of a sudden offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland wasn't returning to Alabama and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp was prevented from interviewing in Detroit for new Lions coach Dan Campbell.
One former NFL executive explained it this way: "the Eagles are running it back, just changing the broken part."
Trust may be the biggest factor here and Wentz lost that with Pederson but presumably still has it when it comes to Reich, even though the Colts' coach was honest about some of the flaws Wentz exhibited as a player when he was in Philadelphia.
In the halcyon days, however, you didn't hear about Wentz killing plays out of spite.
The end game for the Eagles seems to be the same one they've had and failed with to date at the receiver position, getting players to grow with Wentz.
In Sirianni's case, it’s a coach with a voice closer in age who may resonate with Wentz.
The best-case scenario from there being a 180 and going back to the original plan of Wentz being the face of the franchise for years to come.
Now get to work, coach.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of EagleMaven. Check out anything you may have missed pertaining to the Eagles by going to www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
