Eagles Engineers: Is Nick Sirianni Building a Coach Factory?
Rising third-year Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is off to an impressive start with the team.
Sirianni is 23-11 his career and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl in his second season. The team lost 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the big game this past February, but Sirianni was praised for calling a brilliant game.
He also became the first head coach in almost three decades to make new hires for both coordinators after reaching the Super Bowl. He had to after defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon accepted the head job with the Arizona Cardinals and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen did the same with the Indianapolis Colts.
Sirianni has rebuilt the Eagles' culture that was searching for their identity after a disastrous 2020 season that saw the team go 4-11-1. Franchise quarterback Carson Wentz played severely enough to get benched. Sirianni's ability to relate to the players has been a keen reason for the Eagles' success over the past two seasons.
More teams are trying to find a head coach like Sirianni, so it makes sense that his top two assistant coaches got head coaching jobs this offseason.
But will this continue to be a trend for the Eagles? The team hired Sean Desai as the defensive coordinator. They pried him away from his position as the Seattle Seahawsks' associate head coach and defensive assistant. Desai was a name floating around the head coach circle in 2021 after an excellent season as the Bears defensive coordinator. So it would be no surprise if he finds success with the Eagles and gets a job as a head coach next year.
Sirianni promoted quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator. While he won't call plays for the Eagles, Johnson's leadership was instrumental in the team's Super Bowl run last season. He has a chance to become an NFL coach. However, keep an eye on him taking a job at the NCAA level.
Johnson was the offensive coordinator for the Houston Cougars and Utah Utes. He attended Utah, and with Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham approaching retirement, Johnson could be a name to replace him.
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