Early Leaks From Eagles OC Search Raise Red Flags

PHILADELPHIA - Connecting the various national insider dots on Wednesday would put a couple of former head coaches at the top of the Philadelphia Eagles’ wish list for the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Former Miami mentor Mike McDaniel and ex-New York Giants coach Brian Daboll are at the top of the Eagles’ list, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.

Couple that with NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport’s expectation that the Eagles would be moving away from the style of offense that has been a constant in the Nick Sirianni/Jalen Hurts era, and you have the clear leader in the clubhouse.

“I would expect them to maybe not go with something that Sirianni has done before, a little bit of a clean break there," Rapoport said.

New Look?

Dec 28, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel runs off the field following a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

If that’s the Eagles’ true starting point, McDaniel makes the most sense from a course-correction standpoint.

The thinking that gets to that destination is troublesome, however. Before you can even get to the thought that neutering the head coach is ever a path forward in the NFL, you are stonewalled by the logical fallacies that are trying to be accomplished.

Yes, the 2025 season was a disappointing one for the organization offensively, but the larger sample size of what Sirianni had built around Hurts had been far more successful from a bottom-line standpoint than any of the perceived upgrades the Eagles will be talking to.

Former head coaches and play-callers meet the experience demand, and McDaniel, who is schooled in the Shanahan-Kubiak offensive scheme, is the type of coach that can force “evolution” from what has been a simplified, risk-averse offense.

The assumption that motion, eye candy, or any perceived upticks in creativity are synonyms for improvement should be kept to the sports-talk airwaves.

Sirianni ran different offenses in Indianapolis, and the ones that featured Andrew Luck and Philip Rivers looked far more advanced in the passing game than what’s gone on in Philadelphia. The bottom line was not better than the “ugly” product with the Eagles, though.

The early leaks regarding the Eagles’ OC search put the goals of this coaching search in question right out of the starting block as antithetical to the approach the organization championed during its greatest run in the Super Bowl era.

In fact, it’s almost waving the white flag to the screenshot scouts and the social media grifters that the organization spent months decrying behind the scenes.

If Rapoport’s take on what’s going on is correct the standard is in danger of no longer being the standard in Philadelphia, replaced by the prosaic groupthink the Eagles typically pride themselves in avoiding.

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