Report: Eagles hire Nick Sirianni as their new head coach

The Philadelphia Eagles are hiring Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni as their new head coach! The news was first reported by NFL insider Adam Schefter.

Word of the Eagles interviewing Sirianni first emerged earlier this week. Here’s what we wrote at the time:

Sirianni, of course, works under former Eagles OC Frank Reich in Indy. The 39-year-old previously served as the Chargers’ quarterbacks coach while Reich was San Diego’s offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015.

While keeping in mind that Reich handles play-calling duties for the Colts, here’s how Indy’s offense’s have ranked with Sirianni as OC:

2018 — 10th

2019 — 19th

2020 — 12th

Sirianni got to work with Andrew Luck in 2018 before the former No. 1 overall pick unexpectedly retired ahead of 2019, leaving the Colts with Jacoby Brissett as their starter. The Colts then signed 38-year-old Philip Rivers to be their starter in 2020.

Sirianni has garnered head coaching interest in previous offseasons so it’s not a total shock to see the Eagles interested in him. He basically holds the role that Reich did in Philly when Doug Pederson was head coach.

The Eagles hiring Sirianni would kind of feel like they wanted Reich back but they couldn’t get him so they went with the next closest thing. I suppose the organization took a similar approach with Andy Reid and Pederson back in 2016.

Given all the buzz about the Eagles being heavily interested in Josh McDaniels, one could wonder if the Sirianni interview is meant to put pressure on the New England Patriots offensive coordinator into taking the job. And/or the Eagles might just genuinely interested in Sirianni.

Earlier today, it was reported that the search was coming down to Sirianni versus McDaniels. We offered some bullet point thoughts on the Colts OC:

• Isn’t Josh McDaniels.
• Seems like a personable, likable guy based on some videos the Colts have put out. Emotional intelligence!
• Relatively young in head coaching terms, only turns 40 in June. But hardly inexperienced. Has been coaching since 2004 and in the NFL since 2009. Bit of a diverse background thanks to coaching wide receivers, quarterbacks, and being an offensive coordinator. Hasn’t been a play-caller, though.
• Contributed to Colts offenses that ranked 10th (Andrew Luck), 19th (Jacoby Brissett), and 12th (Philip Rivers) in DVOA. Can bring some of Frank Reich’s influence back to Philly. Carson Wentz would probably like that.
• In terms of passer rating, Rivers had two of his most average seasons when Sirianni was his quarterbacks coach in San Diego. Not sure if he’s the guy to magically fix Wentz, though I guess it’s good to hear that he “can coach hard if he needs to.”
• Tyrell Williams had his best season when Sirianni was his wide receivers coach in 2016. Ditto for Keenan Allen in 2017.

The quick take here is that Sirianni seems like a reasonable hire. He’s an ascending coach who can hopefully grow with a team that isn’t in win-now mode as much as they need to take a long-term approach to winning.

As we said when the Eagles fired Doug Pederson, though, this team’s issues go beyond the head coach. This isn’t an ideal situation for Sirianni to be entering. The Eagles lack a definitive answer at quarterback. They have a roster that’s old, bad, expensive, and inflexible. Howie Roseman has drafted just one Pro Bowl player since 2014. Jeffrey Lurie has been a meddlesome owner to some extent.

Ultimately, Eagles fans can only hope that Sirianni does his best to make the most of what he can control. It’ll be interesting to see how he fills out his staff.

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