Man Of Many Hats: Eagles' New OC Emerges From The Shadows

New Eagles OC Kevin Patullo has already been a strong voice in the organization.

Kellen Moore and Kevin Patullo at Eagles practice / John McMullen/Eagles On SI

PHILADELPHIA - The titles hardly paint the proper picture regarding Kevin Patullo’s value to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.

Had circumstances been different Patullo may have been Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator after Shane Steichen left the organization after the 2022 season. Two OCs and a Super Bowl championship later, Patullo is officially the guy after being named to the post on Wednesday. 

Patullo had been the Eagles’ associate head coach and passing game coordinator, and his duties were varied.  

"Very important to the success that we've had,” Sirianni said before Super Bowl LIX. “He wears a lot of different hats. Helps me a lot with different head-coaching things.”

If you remember back to Sirianni’s first season in 2021, the first indication of Patullo’s importance was an off-handed remark by the coach explaining his right-hand man helping set up the logistics for some of the coaching interviews.

When Sirianni tested positive for COVID-19 that season and there was some concern the coach would miss a December game against the New York Giants, it was Patullo who was set to take over the head-coaching duties.

Since Day 1 in Philadelphia, Patullo has been Sirianni’s in-house sounding board.

“I can't tell you that I make a decision without saying to Kevin first, 'What do you think?' That's in everything,” said Sirianni. “That's in-game, out-of-game, with scheduling, that's with offensive stuff, that's with game-management stuff.

“I lean on him a lot.”

Now Patullo will get down in the mud as the Eagles’ play-caller, a role he sharpened for by shadowing Kellen Moore this past season.

“Since [Moore] got here I feel him and I spend so much time together on just offense,” Patullo said when in New Orleans for the Soper Bowl. “It’s been actually unique.

“... “I’ve learned so much from him and I think vice versa. When you look back at the offseason and just going through the process. What we did that was successful here and what he’s done [elsewhere]. Just teaching it back and forth and finding new ideas and new trends in the league.”

The passing game coordinator tag will lead many down the road of Patullo having a dominant hand but the veteran coach, who first met Sirianni in 2009, has already had a hand in the entire offense, including the running game, the RPO game, and situation work like two-minute offense, four-minute offense and red zone.

“He knows what I'm thinking in certain situations, how you want things to be taught, all of those different things, so he's been a great resource for me the entire time, our success this year, but really the success we've had since we've been here,” said Sirianni. “Can't be great without the greatness of others and that is definitely a fact with Kevin Patullo and I trust him with everything.”

One of the most important hats Patullo has worn is to tell the head coach if he’s “acting like an a@#hole,” according to Sirianni.

Now Sirianni is trusting Patullo with the highest-profile but perhaps least understood job on game day of play-caller.

"He’d have a different role. So, it’s hard to compare that role to this [current] role,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said when asked about Patullo. “Because his job is gonna demand something totally different of him. I have a lot of confidence in him and what he’s shown. 

“However, I know over the years, I’ve learned that’s out of my jurisdiction. I’m just kind of just taking things as they come, try to go out and there and be the best I can be, and just learn and evolve.”

Inside the building, the best path to that evolution was considered to be Patullo, who was the heavy favorite to get the job once it became clear the New Orleans Saints were going to make Moore their head coach. 

Much has been made about the number of coordinators and QB coaches Hurts had had to work with over the past four years.

Sirianni and Patullo have been the two constants for that entire ride for Hurts and the latter will now emerge from the background to make the latest transition as seamless as possible.

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