Vic Fangio Hints He Would've Stayed With Eagles If Not For Jonathan Gannon Tampering
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Throughout the 2022 season, the Philadelphia Eagles' defense got some valuable and unexpected help from Vic Fangio, former Denver Broncos head coach and longtime defensive guru.
After the Broncos moved on from Fangio following the 2021 season, he joined the Eagles as a consultant in a move that went under the radar for a while. He played an especially key role leading up to Super Bowl LVII, as he signed a two-week contract to help the Eagles' defense prepare for the Kansas City Chiefs' offense. The Eagles' defense took major strides in 2022, and Fangio's involvement likely played a big role in that.
Fangio's tenure in Philadelphia was short-lived though, as the Miami Dolphins made him their new defensive coordinator this offseason. However, he may have remained with the Eagles if things worked out just a bit differently.
In Philadelphia Fangio worked under defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who left to become the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job after the Super Bowl. Later, news broke that the Cardinals had illegal contact with Gannon before the Super Bowl. The Eagles and Cardinals settled the matter with a swap of draft picks, but this saga still has lasting repercussions.
If the Eagles' defensive coordinator role had become open sooner, then perhaps Fangio could've filled it. On Thursday, the current Dolphins coach seemingly hinted that this may have been the case.
"That's possible," Fangio said, "But I won't -- I'll neither confirm nor deny it."
This isn't the first time this scenario has come up either. In early May, ESPN insider Adam Schefter hinted that Fangio may have preferred to stay in Philadelphia, but the Gannon situation prevented that from happening.
“The interesting part about it would be this, I think it impacted a lot of peoples’ lives," Schefter said. "Vic Fangio, for example, probably would not have taken the Dolphins defensive coordinator job and would be the defensive coordinator in Philadelphia today if everything was on the up and up. And so, it didn’t just impact the Cardinals and their job with Jonathan Gannon, it impacted others as well."
After seeing both Gannon and Fangio head elsewhere, the Eagles hired former Seattle Seahawks assistant Sean Desai to be the new leader of the defense. While Fangio may have wanted to stick around, it's ultimately just another possibility that never came to fruition.
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