The Philadelphia Eagles became the last team to join the coaching carousel in the NFL this season after firing coach Doug Pederson after a 4-11-1 season that saw quarterback controversy and a very strange final game that many cried foul about Philly purposefully tanking (which upset the Giants who needed an Eagles win to make the playoffs).
On Thursday, Philly’s coaching search came to its conclusion as they became the sixth team to find a new head coach, tabbing Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni to come in and turn things around.
Eagles are hiring Colts' OC Nick Sirianni as their head coach, sources tell ESPN. Sirianni spent three seasons as a Chiefs' assistant coach, five seasons with the Chargers, and the past three with the Colts. Now the 39-year-old Sirianni becomes the lead man in Philadelphia.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 21, 2021
There have been rumblings that one of the chief priorities for the Eagles new coach is to be open to trying to resurrect Carson Wentz’s career after a disastrous 2020 that saw him get benched for rookie Jalen Hurts. The Eagles are heavily committed to Wentz financially and while ownership has insisted its not their job to dictate who plays quarterback, we all know that isn’t necessarily true. We’ll find out as this offseason transpires if that is indeed the case, because if Wentz is still on the roster come training camp, one can assume Sirianni was on board with trying to work him back into the fold.
The 39-year-old was previously a receivers coach in Kansas City and San Diego (and briefly a quarterbacks coach with the Chargers) before joining the Colts in 2018 as offensive coordinator. Indianapolis has been top 10 twice (2018 and 2020) in yards per play under Sirianni, with a rough 2019 following the sudden retirement of Andrew Luck.
The other headline out of this hire is that Sirianni is the fifth white coach hired this cycle out of six — Robert Saleh in New York is the lone exception — and for a league that has promised to make strides with regards to hiring practices and making the coaching ranks more diverse, particularly coming out of 2020, this hasn’t exactly been a banner hiring cycle. The name on everyone’s mind this season was Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who remains a target for the Texans (but it remains to be seen if that’s a job he would want given the turmoil there). That all but one team have moved on with hires before having the chance to bring in Bieniemy will surely be a topic of conversation and something the league is going to have to reconcile with.
