January 24, 2024
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 14: A photo of Nick Sirianni from the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Minnesota Vikings on September 14, 2023 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Photo by Kate Frese/PhillyVoice)
Head culture builder. Head decision-maker. Head player relationship guru.
These are all the roles that Nick Sirianni says he strives to play as Eagles head coach, an unconventional one that lacks a focus on running the offense or the defense of his team.
With two gigantic "help wanted" signs hanging from the windows at the NovaCare Complex, the coach, entering his fourth year in Philly, spoke at length Wednesday about what went wrong in 2023-24, and what he hopes the next season will look like from a coaching and personnel perspective.
And it all starts with finding someone to create an offense — basically from scratch.
"It's now about bringing in fresh ideas, some different thoughts than a lot of the guys — we've been together for three years... To me we got a little bit stale on offense by the end of the year and these ideas, and this new person coming in is meant to take away the staleness..."
Sirianni was referencing his outgoing offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who previously served as his quarterbacks coach.
"Right now we just need to bring some ideas in from the outside," Sirianni added later. "We need to bring a guy in with new ideas that's not part of this family of coaches.
"We're going through an extensive search to get that right person, but it would be crazy not to add some of the things we've done in the past as well."
That right person? Well, Sirianni wants a coach who has a vision for an offense, a scheme to implement, and the ability to call plays. Sounds simple enough.
"I am hiring him to do a job and be in charge of the offense," Sirianni said.
So what exactly would Sirianni, whose coaching background includes being a quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator at the NFL level, be then?
"Building the culture, making sure the culture is working with our five core values, taking every day at a time," the coach said. "Having the relationship with the guys on the football team — I know that when I have a connection with the guys on the football team that's when the culture is working at a high level."
Sirianni mentioned that in a potential new structure he might sit in defensive meetings more often. He also stressed how important it is that the new play-caller gels with franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts — who will be kept in the loop as the Eagles continue to interview candidates.
Though there were musings from football pundits over the last two weeks that Sirianni may be on the hot seat, general manager Howie Roseman made sure to stress the reasons why he felt confident bringing back his head coach for a fourth year in Philadelphia.
"I accept responsibility for whatever we have to do, not playing this week and beyond [in the playoffs]. The important thing for us to look at is, before this stretch, we were 26-5 over the last 31 games. That's four times the number of games we played (at 1-6) over that [season-ending] stretch, that's hard to do. We made the playoffs three years in a row."
Is the job of offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles this season an appealing one? The new OC will have the keys to the offense, and tools like Hurts, A.J. Brown and a very solid offensive line to play with. It's also proven to be a launching pad for coordinators to ascend to head coaching jobs — like Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon a year ago.
But there's also not a hotter pressure cooker in football than Philadelphia, and it clearly can take a toll. It did on Sirianni, who now has to essentially prove himself all over again.
"I was a young coach that [Eagles' owner Jeffrey] Lurie and Howie [Roseman] and this organization trusted," Sirianni recalled of his hiring at age 39. "I had to prove myself that this guy can lead the organization like they asked me to, I had to prove myself from then... you better believe that after that 1-6 finish, after starting the way we started and with the things we've done in the past that I am going top prove them right again. We have to reprove ourselves.
"That's how I'm attacking this upcoming season."
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