Eagles add Matt Patricia to defensive coaching staff

Eagles GM Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters on Thursday to talk about the upcoming NFL Draft, and Sirianni said that they were trending toward adding Matt Patricia to the defensive coaching staff — something that has since become official.

Patricia was Darius Slay’s head coach in Detroit for two years, 2018 and 2019, before joining the Eagles. Things did not end well for the pair, with Slay admitting he didn’t have much respect for Patricia as a person, and eventually resulted in the CB demanding a trade. Patricia had just one more year as head coach with the Lions before going back to the Patriots in 2021.

Sirianni said that they “of course” spoke to Slay about the possibility of bringing in Patricia — something that was rumored to be in progress back in March —, and said that, like everything else, they wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable with the decision.

“I had conversations with Slay, obviously I had conversations with Coach Patricia, and I know that it’ll be a good working relationship for us when that happens.”

Sirianni went on to say that Patricia’s resume speaks for itself and his defensive mind will be a great resource to both the defensive staff and to the head coach and offensive side of the ball.