January 17, 2024
Vincent Carchietta/USA Today Sports
Nick Sirianni and Jason Kelce both stand at a pivotal crossroads for the Eagles.
Nick Sirianni is heavily rumored to be on the hot seat following the Eagles' disastrous collapse to end the season, but two of the organization's "Core Four" were far from pinning the blame on the head coach for how it all went down.
Decisions do have to be made and made soon, but as far as Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox are concerned, Sirianni is still the coach and should be.
"Of course, yeah. I love Nick," Kelce said during the Eagles' cleanout day of whether he would like to see Sirianni return for 2024. "I think Nick's a great coach. I really do. I think he's a great head coach.
"Obviously, nobody was good enough this year. I wasn't, none of the players, none of the coaches were good enough down the stretch. That's the reality of this business, and when you're that bad, it's a collective thing. But I'll always have faith in Nick Sirianni. I think he does a lot of things structurally and organizationally that, I think, are well done. Obviously, we got a lot of things to fix to improve the outcomes and the offense in general, from my perspective, for next year. But I think very very highly of Nick Sirianni."
Cox, meanwhile, didn't want to entertain any idea about Sirianni being fired.
"Huh? Come on, man," Cox retorted when asked about the rumors and speculation regarding Sirianni. "He's the head football coach of this team. Come on, man. There ain't even no f***ing discussion about it. I don't got nothing to say about that."
The real question, however, is will owner Jeffrey Lurie after he meets with Sirianni as the Eagles pack up for the offseason.
Jason Kelce says Nick Sirianni is a great head coach. Says nobody — players, coaches, himself — was good enough this year.
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) January 17, 2024
Says Sirianni does a lot of great things as a head coach #Eagles pic.twitter.com/HOYCQ5bmL7
Kelce, the Eagles' stalwart at center for the past 13 seasons, was reported to have told teammates of his plans to retire following Monday night's wild card loss to the Buccaneers. He's been mum about his future publically in the couple of days since, however, explaining on his "New Heights" podcast with his brother Travis – released earlier Wednesday – that he would rather take some time to reflect properly and settle down before making any official announcement.
Cox's future is also uncertain, but after registering five sacks and continuing to play well along the defensive line in his age-33 season, he didn't want to dismiss the possibility of being back.
"I feel like I still played at a really high level, and you know, we'll see," he said.
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