GamePlan: How Nick Sirianni Earned the Eagles’ Trust

Philadelphia’s coach is the only new hire from last year’s cycle in the playoffs. Plus, previewing wild-card weekend, top story lines and Jameson Williams’s draft stock after his torn ACL.

The Eagles weren’t trying to reinvent the coaching-search wheel in January 2021. If they’re being honest about it, more than anything, they were just scrambling to catch up.

Doug Pederson was fired on Jan. 11, a full week after the regular season ended. Three days after that, the Jaguars announced the arrival of Urban Meyer, the Jets officially took Robert Saleh off the market, and the Lions and Falcons were moving on Dan Campbell and Arthur Smith, respectively. Quietly, the Chargers, too, were readying to quickly hire Brandon Staley, as soon as the crosstown Rams’ ouster from the playoffs would allow it.

And because of all of that—and that the Eagles didn’t plan on a coaching search in the first place—Philly’s brass had to resolve to do things a little differently. So was hatched a simple premise that would guide the next few weeks for the team. They looked to approach their position not as the last team to the market in 2021, but the first team looking at diving into the ’22 candidate pool.

That, in a nutshell, is how Philly wound up with Nick Sirianni.

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The then Colts offensive coordinator hadn’t so much as interviewed for a head coaching job (the Browns requested one with him in 2019; it never happened) before the Eagles put in for him shortly after Pederson was let go. And Philly went into the interview itself with an open mind—in large part because a team in the Eagles’ position, with all the ’21 cycle’s hot candidates already plucked off the market, didn’t have any other choice.

Eagles GM Howie Roseman called Sirianni from owner Jeffrey Lurie’s place in Florida, and Sirianni told Roseman he was in the state, too, and could drive over, but needed to buy a suit because he didn’t bring one on his family vacation. “Do not buy a suit,” Roseman said. So, everyone dressed casual for the interview, and a few Sirianni quarterback tutorials later (he actually got up and physically demonstrated drills), the ball was rolling.

A year later, with the Eagles set to play the defending champion Buccaneers on Sunday, Sirianni is the only 2021 coaching hire in the postseason. And to be clear, no one in the Philly organization is throwing a party for themselves over the hire—Pederson’s fall from grace is a good example of how quickly things can turn. But with seven teams and counting looking for head coaches now, there are good lessons to be taken here.

Take it from the players.

“For me, it wouldn’t have mattered who came into the head coach position, just because of where I was at in my career last year,” left tackle Jordan Mailata told me after practice Wednesday. “But, man, am I glad we picked him up. He’s been awesome. Just everything that he coaches and preaches, we all buy into it.”

And remember, there was a time when few on the outside did.

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It’s playoff time, and that gives us plenty to bring you in this week’s GamePlan. Among those things …

• A look at the full gamut of games, starting with an old rivalry renewed.

• Story lines to follow, including Rich Bisaccia’s shot to make his case in Las Vegas.

• My (again shaky) gambling advice.

• Where Jameson Williams stands after tearing his ACL.

But we’re starting with what we can all learn from what Sirianni brought to the table last year.

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There were times over the last year when, to be frank, it did not look like the Eagles got it right with Sirianni. He definitely didn’t win the introductory press conference, and after a season-opening win over Smith and the Falcons, the Eagles lost three straight. They were 2–5 through seven games. They were 3–6 through nine games. Before long, their position in the draft and Deshaun Watson sweepstakes was a bigger story than the games in Philly.

Everyone had buried them for 2021—except for those in the building.

“That’s what we leaned on, staying together,” safety Rodney McLeod said over the phone on Thursday. “When everyone else is turning on us, we really stayed true to our process. Something Coach always talked about, double down on the preparation, double down on your study habits, double down on how you practice, because it’s gonna pay off, it’s only a matter of time. Don’t stray … we have the formula, we’re a good team.

“It’s a new-school feel, a lot of younger guys, completely younger staff, and they’ve found little wrinkles that they like and that work. But at the end of the day, football is football, and I think the biggest challenge in being a leader is having your team believe. Can you do that constantly? They’re gonna believe when everything’s going well. It’s when you’re at your darkest moments—as a team, can you keep everyone together? Coach has done that.”

So that’s the easy part to decipher. The Eagles had it right, and a lot of others had it wrong.

What’s more complicated is getting to exactly how and why Philly had faith in Sirianni, and then why his players kept buying what he was selling, even if the short-term results weren’t there, which, of course, set the stage for what was to come.

The first piece for the Eagles was the background they had on the Colts’ OC in the first place, and it went well beyond what they gathered on the run last January. Their old offensive coordinator, Frank Reich, was Sirianni’s boss in Indy, and Reich raved about Sirianni in his two years with the Eagles, telling those in the building that Sirianni would be his first hire when he got his shot as a head coach—a promise he followed through on in 2018.

That connection also checked another box for the Eagles, in their belief that having such ties to candidates improved the chances that a marriage between coach and front office would work, since those recommending the candidate would have a better feel for how one might match up with another.

Then, there was Sirianni’s winning background (having played for perennial Division III national champion Mount Union), and his family history, having come from a house full of educators, which the Eagles knew would be important for a team trying to get younger. They’d also heard about his passion (they actually looked at a clip from the Colts’ website showing his over-the-top reaction to the drafting of Jonathan Taylor) and thought that it’d work in connecting with the generation of players coming into the league.

And that casual interview? It only confirmed all of this. Sirianni drove home how important his principles were to him—Compete, Compete, Connect, he told Lurie, Roseman and the brass—and by the time he stood up to physically play out the quarterback fundamental he was trying explain, the Eagles thought they were on to something. And their players would see soon enough.

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Every coach is trying to sell his players something—and it’s easy for any coach to make his pitch. Getting them to buy it is harder, and, sure, there was a period of time when there might’ve been an arched eyebrow or two shot at Sirianni.

Then came the spring.

“Connect was a big thing for him,” Mailata said. “And we did think it could just be all talk. But when we came in person for OTAs, when we were allowed to come in, that’s when we really saw it. We came in and there was a bloody basketball hoop in front of the auditorium, there was table tennis, what’s the bean bag game? There was cornhole going on.

“And a couple of us, in the break, that five-week break after the OTAs period, we stayed and we connected, different groups—linebackers, O-linemen, D-linemen, tight ends; we stayed and we connected. Every guy who didn’t have anywhere else to go, or didn’t go home, we stayed and, man, did that build a bond. For me, that’s when I realized the small things that Coach did, putting the basketball hoop inside the auditorium, that stuff made a difference.”

To be sure, Sirianni’s not the first coach to put in a Ping-Pong table to build camaraderie.

The difference here, Mailata explains, was Sirianni’s ability to use those tools to build real relationships—not just surface friendships.

Back in May, I did a story on Sirianni in which he explained why he’d had his players film spoof MTV Cribs episodes to show their teammates where they lived and played a game called “Who Am I?” (players had to guess a teammate’s identity based on clues on their personal lives) to ensure guys were getting to know each other. They’d play H-O-R-S-E or knockout on that hoop, or have guys shoot free throws to earn the team a day off.

And if it was just those things alone, maybe pro athletes would see the ideas as kind of hokey. But Sirianni didn’t just ask that of his players, he also opened up to them and showed he wanted the coaches to have real relationships with the players, just as he wanted the players to have connections with each other. This, in turn, allowed him to show that he really wanted the relationships to be genuine, across the board.

“Coach just overemphasized how important it was, sharing stories about his life,” said Mailata. “Getting to know about Coach was crazy—I loved it. I love getting to know my coach. In each team meeting, he’d start off with a new story about the way he grew up, how he grew up, friends and moments of his life that taught him important lessons that he still values to this day. And passing the knowledge down to us young guys, it’s huge. It’s huge, when you have a coach who’s so passionate on connecting. …

“Nick being a young coach, he’s a lot more approachable. I’m not saying other coaches aren’t approachable. But it was a big thing.”

And the proof for Mailata came with all those guys who stuck around in Philly during the NFL’s summer vacation—guys hanging out because they wanted to, not because they had been scheduled to. It’s carried over since, too. Sirianni still does little things, like having everyone on the roster greet one another during Saturday night meetings.

“Going around, let’s get up and let’s dap each other up,” McLeod said. “We’re getting ready to go battle tomorrow and let’s show each other some love. And guys take it from the guy next to them all the way to the back of the room, and it goes on for about five minutes. … He’s forming that culture that’ll live on as long as he’s here.”

The payoff, for the coaches, has come in a number of ways.

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The obvious place to start with the team’s benefit from how Sirianni has tied it together is, again, that rough start. No one expected much from the Eagles, seemingly in the midst of a rebuild, before the season started. The way Philly came out of the gate certainly didn’t do much to change that. Obviously, much changed over the back half of the season.

But the biggest bounce from all those relationships built and all those games played wasn’t the result of the season—it was how the result came to be. Mostly, it happened because the players knew they could trust the coaches, which would be the baseline for trusting that the plan Sirianni and his staff set out for them would eventually work.

And the best example of that trust came into play right before the season started. The team had broken camp, finished the preseason and set its 53-man roster, and the players were readying to bolt for the three-day Labor Day weekend before buckling down for the long season ahead. Just before they left, Sirianni showed them the video of an interview with Sixers coach Doc Rivers.

In it, Rivers explained how when he coached the 2007-08 Celtics, he went to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, and clearly defined their roles within the team for them. It was important, Rivers thought, to be direct with everyone, in telling them what the team would need from them so they could pursue their collective goals knowing the plan. Those Celtics, of course, ended up winning a championship.

Sirianni then addressed his players and told them to expect coaches to reach out to them before they returned to the building for Week 1. That call, Sirianni told them, would detail each guy’s specific role with the team for the season.

“It’s just complete honesty,” McLeod said. “As a player, you respect that, and you know your place. Everybody isn’t going to be the 1,000-yard receiver or going to be a starter, but this is what we’re asking of you and what’s in the best interest of this team in order for us to reach a championship. You have to respect that. I think the trust and honest part is huge, and that was another step in him doing it. … It hurts for some guys. But it’s what’s needed.”

From there, Sirianni proved time and again that, in turn, his staff would return the favor by adjusting to fit the players—Sirianni explained to me earlier this year that he’d been inspired by how his brother, a high school coach, won three state titles at that level with three different offensive schemes, each put in place to best highlight the players he had.

Accordingly, Sirianni borrowed from Oklahoma midseason to adjust a run scheme that would highlight quarterback Jalen Hurts as the season went on. The Eagles wound up rushing for an NFL-high 2,715 yards this year.

And that’s just one more example of how what the Eagles built in the offseason under Sirianni’s plan carried over into the regular season. It may have looked a little different—those games of H-O-R-S-E morphed into Wednesday compete periods in practice, where the football benefit is a little more obvious—but each thing tied into the next, and the coaches’ trusting the players, and vice versa, has continued to pay off.

“Every week, that’s when we saw the ball starting to roll and the tide changing, and that’s where we were like, O.K., this is building an identity,” Mailata said. “Once we found that identity in who we wanted to be, as an offense and as a team, that’s when everyone, not really relaxed, but trusted in the process. It’s what got us here.”

So, the lesson here for other teams?

Get to know the guy you’re hiring. The Eagles did, almost by happenstance—because the timing of the search and hire forced them to.

And since then, that dressed-down candidate has shown everyone else who he is, too.

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FIVE STAR MATCHUPS

1) 49ers at Cowboys (Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET): Call me stupid for this; I don’t care. As a child of the ’90s, seeing those two uniforms in a playoff setting absolutely screams big game to me (those who watched John Madden and Pat Summerall call Troy Aikman vs. Steve Young and remember Deion Sanders’s role in the rivalry won’t disagree). And this one has plenty of great football elements in its own right. How Dan Quinn attacks the vaunted Niners run game should be interesting, as will the Dallas offensive line’s ability to hold up against San Francisco’s pass rush. The two quarterbacks bring plenty of intrigue, too. I love everything about this one.

2) Cardinals at Rams (Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET): The first time these teams met, Arizona beat down the Rams to validate their arrival as a real threat in the NFC West. The second time, a COVID-19-racked Rams roster returned the favor, convincingly knocking off an Arizona team that seemed on the precipice of putting the West title away. One commonality? In each case, the more physical team won. So even with a marquee quarterback matchup here, it’s fair to think that the production of guys like James Conner, Cam Akers, Sony Michel and Chase Edmonds might tell the tale.

3) Patriots at Bills (Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET): Another in-division showdown, featuring teams that split in a way that told the story of the season in the AFC East. The Patriots’ Dec. 6 win was New England’s seventh straight, and in a driving windstorm, Bill Belichick’s crew buckled down, dragged the Bills into a phonebooth and wore them down. Three weeks later, Buffalo had shown signs coming in of using that night as a turning point and validated that idea with Josh Allen’s throwing for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a 12-point win that seemed more lopsided than its 33–21 score. If styles make fights, then the tone and tenor of this one, likely to be in single-digit temp, should determine which way it goes.

4) Raiders at Bengals (Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET): How much do the Raiders have left after Sunday night’s dogfight with the Chargers? Will Joe Burrow’s virtuoso end to the regular season carry over into the playoffs? Can Rich Bisaccia win the Raiders’ job full-time? There are so many fun questions here. And both teams have gone a long time without winning a playoff game—the Raiders’ last playoff win was in the 2002 AFC title game and the Bengals’ last one came over the Raiders in the infamous Bo Jackson game after the 1991 season. Which means someone’s gonna have plenty to celebrate.

5) The games involving the defending conference champs. I couldn’t list five games and leave one out, right? Steelers at Chiefs (Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET) could be Ben Roethlisberger’s final game and gives us all a chance to see if Kansas City can find that extra gear that it’s hit only a couple of times this year. And I’m fascinated to see a loose Eagles team playing with house money against the banged-up Buccaneers in Tampa (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET). Is there an upset in the offing? Probably not. But it’d be more likely, in my humble opinion, to come in the NFC game than the AFC game.

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FOUR THINGS TO FOLLOW

Where the Texans go from here. First, let’s get this on the record: The fact that there’s one Black coach among the NFL’s 24 right now is really bad, even before considering what might happen with the league’s eight open spots. And David Culley, a good man, didn’t do a demonstrably fireable job in his first, and only, year as Texans head coach. That said, the writing was on the wall here for a while. Houston played hard, and the staff developed young players well, but there were little hints along the way that indicated this wasn’t going to be a long-term marriage. First, there was the fact that a decent chunk of Culley’s first staff wasn’t really his. Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly was a holdover from the old staff and a dyed-in-the-wool Bill O’Brien protégé. Special teams coordinator Frank Ross was a Nick Caserio hire. And once the Texans got into the season, some leaks in game management and details, and Caserio’s involvement on the headsets (which was normal in New England, but isn’t in other places), gave clues into the awkward fit. So, what’s next? Well, the way Culley’s contract was structured to protect the team shows that the Texans were ready for this. As such, I’ve been told Caserio already had a good idea of where he’d go if this were to happen. I think it’s fair to start with ex-Dolphins coach Brian Flores, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo as potential candidates for the job.

The Bisaccia storyline. Can the Raiders’ interim coach hang onto the job? The locker room loves him. The GM, Mike Mayock, is right there with them. And the owner, Mark Davis, at the very least wanted to give him a fair shot at the job. In making his case, Bisaccia has weathered multiple off-field storms (Jon Gruden, Henry Ruggs III) and dug the team out of a 1–5 stretch in midseason to make the playoffs. If the Raiders can go into Cincinnati and win their first playoff game in 19 years, it might make it pretty difficult to detach from him. The flip side is the business interests of the team. Some viewed Gruden’s ouster in October as a chance to reimagine the Raiders’ football operation as it settled into Las Vegas, and to do that, it wouldn’t hurt to make a splash. That’s where I believe Jim Harbaugh (who was a Raiders assistant in 2002 and ’03, and nearly became the Raiders’ head coach in ’15 before deciding to go to Michigan instead) comes in. It’s also where the kind of coach trade that we’ve discussed (maybe Mike Tomlin isn’t interested, but it couldn’t hurt to ask) could become reality. We’ll see. How the Raiders play this weekend could be a factor.

The Giants have a real opportunity here. A couple of weeks ago, I proposed that John Mara make a hard run at Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay as a way of shaking up the organization by putting one of the more respected and talented executives in the league at the wheel. That idea died on the vine on Wednesday night, when McClay, sources say, agreed to a three-year extension to remain the scouting chief in Dallas. But the concept, I’d say, remains, and the fact that the coaching job is now open may only enhance the opportunity that the Maras have to reset their organization after an embarrassing decade to follow the Giants’ last championship (the team has two winning seasons, one playoff berth and seven 10-loss seasons over that time). The good news? Their GM candidate list is strong, even with McClay’s having bowed out of the running, and with the chance to be involved in the coach hire, they can sell guys in the running for the job on an opportunity to put their own stamp on a flagship franchise. So, to me, the right thing for the Maras to do here is to hire someone from the outside (which is their plan) and let that person guide the coach-hire process so the two people in charge thereafter are tied at the hip. If you look at the teams that are winning now, you’ll see it. Brian Gutekunst helped hire Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. Brett Veach came up as Andy Reid’s right-hand man before becoming GM in Kansas City. Bruce Arians and Jason Licht worked together in Tampa. Sean McDermott pointed the Bills toward Brandon Beane during their GM process. Now, it may not be the Giants’ way to do it like that. But after the last 10 years, it doesn’t seem like “the way we’ve always done it” should be a factor at all.

It’s definitely notable that the Colts wouldn’t commit to Carson Wentz for next year. Here’s what GM Chris Ballard said on Thursday: “I'd like to quit Band-Aiding it. I'd like for Carson to be the long-term answer or find somebody who will be here for the next 10 to 12 years. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. I can dream about it, wish about it, do everything I can to figure out the solution, but you do the best with what you can do at the time.” The Colts have one year of guaranteed money left with Wentz, with just over half of the $27 million he’s due ($15 million of it) locked in for next year. Trading him, based on what he’s making, would not be easy. They could cut him and eat the $15 million, with the hope that some of it would be offset by a team’s signing him. The trouble with that is, as Ballard intimated, then what? Indianapolis doesn’t have a first-round pick (that’s gone to Philly, for Wentz), and this is considered a quarterback-poor draft anyway. Maybe they could trade for one? Sure, but not having a first-rounder hurts them there, and the top young guy available (Deshaun Watson) plays for a team in their division that would be unlikely to trade him to a rival. And yes, maybe there’d be a lower-profile fix like Jimmy Garoppolo or Kirk Cousins available, but unless their teams are willing to take Wentz back in a trade (highly unlikely), then adding those big salaries while swallowing Wentz’s number would be tough. In short, the Colts are in a really difficult spot that leaves Wentz’s getting a second chance in Indianapolis as, perhaps, their best option. The impact of Andrew Luck’s retirement continues to be felt in Indy.

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TWO BEST BETS

Season record: 18 –18. The home dog gaveth and the home dog tooketh away last week, to leave me at a perfect .500 for the season. Which totally makes sense, if you’ve been following my journey into betting lines in 2021.

Bengals (-5.5) vs. Raiders: My feeling that Burrow has changed the Bengals is well-documented, and I see one team coming in gassed and having to travel cross-country, and the other rested and playing at home. Give me Cincinnati going away.

Chiefs (-12.5) vs. Steelers: I think Kansas City will flex its muscles this week. And I don’t think the Steelers can score with the Chiefs. It’s been a hell of ride, Ben.

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ONE BIG QUESTION

What’s the fallout for Jameson Williams?

The prospective first-round pick—who became a flat-out star for Alabama this year after transferring from Ohio State—tore his ACL in the national title game against Georgia and is now looking at a rehab process that could last well into his rookie year in the NFL. Ideal, this situation is not.

That said, ACL injuries aren’t what they used to be.

“You can come back quicker, so maybe he’s back in nine months,” said an NFC GM. “He might be on the PUP list to start the season, or maybe he comes back after three or four games. But I worry about the slight frame, too. He’s a heck of a player. But he might slip a little.”

“I think it depends on how GMs look at it,” said another NFC exec. “The draft sometimes, it’s the faster you can contribute, the higher you’re picked. Obviously, the ability’s gotta be there, and it is. But when you know the kid’s probably not playing as a rookie, or might not play until the last third of the year, and you’re looking at drafting him early on, I think there’s a chance he slides a little bit. Because of that, yeah, he’s a first-round pick, there’s no doubt about that, but it could hurt him.”

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Williams’s case is an interesting one because of his overall profile. His build is a concern, like our GM said, a deficiency that will always bring a player’s injury history into focus. And his calling is his speed—so the fact that he won’t be able to run a 40 before the draft could impact his stock as well. “You know he’s fast,” said the GM. “The only thing that scares you is he might not be as fast coming off the ACL.”

Then, there were concerns on his practice habits going from Ohio State to Alabama, so some digging will be necessary on that.

Now, even with all of that taken into account? Williams is a damn good player.

Here’s what ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay told me on Williams last week for our Monday column (this got left on the cutting room floor), before the injury, when I asked if he’s the best receiver in the draft class: “If you’re basing it on talent, I think it’s pretty cut-and-dried, he is. Now, you’ve got two first-rounders [at Ohio State], and [Jaxon] Smith-Njigba is gonna be another high pick when he’s eligible, they’re obviously loaded at receiver at Ohio State, but why didn’t he crack the lineup if he’s potentially going to be drafted ahead of [Garrett] Wilson and [Chris] Olave? …

“Bottom line, he’s the best talent at wide receiver in this class. His ability to outrun SEC defenders when the ball is in the air, he’ll have a bead on them, he’ll be head-to-head with that cornerback, and that ball goes up in the air, and you talk about closing burst? He’s a classic example of what it should look like, tracking the ball and then being able to close on it when the ball’s in the air. He just has a different gear that matches up with what he needs to get to the ball. And then obviously after the catch he can be super dynamic, and the return game.

“And what I love about him, the guy is an absolute madman covering kicks as a gunner on punts. You would think that a top-10 pick, and a receiver that’s been talked about, ‘Well, he doesn’t love practice,’ I don’t see an ounce of that in games. He’s choosing to be on special teams, he got this targeting penalty against Auburn that knocked him out of that game and he comes back and the first punt in the SEC championship game and he lights somebody up, first guy down.”

So yes, the injury sucks, and will likely have some effect on Williams’s draft position. And yes, he’s still really, really good.

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