Nick Not Neutered: Eagles Reveal Coaching Staff; Good News for Sirianni
PHILADELPHIA - Early assumptions that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had been neutered by team owner Jeffrey Lurie were muted a bit Friday when the organization finally revealed their 2024 coaching staff in advance of the scouting combine.
The 2024 Eagles staff will include nine new coaches – including offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and defensive chief Vic Fangio – and four holdovers with adjusted titles.
The biggest news, however, is that Sirianni was able to keep most of his trusted lieutenants after being “encouraged” to search out fresh ideas.
On the offensive side, Moore was allowed his preferred quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier, and offensive assistant Kyle Valero, who worked in quality control, analytics, and receivers with Moore in Dallas.
The rest of the offensive staff is familiar and loyal to Sirianni, including his closest confidant in associate head coach/passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo.
Eagles associate head coach/passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo is a Nick Sirianni confidant.
John McMullen/SI.com Eagle Maven
Joining Patullo from Sirianni’s inner circle are assistant head coach/running backs Jemal Singleton, offensive line/run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland, wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, tight ends coach Jason Michael, and quality control coach Eric Dickerson.
Sirianni’s personal assistant Tyler Yelk was also promoted to head coach quality control.
An NFL source confirmed that the Eagles were interested in hiring now-Washington OC Kliff Kingsbury early in their search for a new coordinator before the shift to Moore. Things derailed when Kingsbury asked for more autonomy than Philadelphia was comfortable with.
Judging by the assembled offensive staff, those breadcrumbs make more sense now.
Defensively, Fangio was given more sway in the wake of the Sean Desai/Matt Patricia debacle and that’s no surprise because Sirianni was previously close with and had already trusted Fangio dating back to his time as a “friend of the program” in 2022, and the veteran coach's two-week consultancy role with the Eagles leading up to Super Bowl LVII.
The only returns to the defensive side of the ball were defensive end/outside linebackers coach Jeremiah Washburn, Tyler Scudder, and Ronnel Williams, the latter two with adjusted job titles.
Scudder started as Sirianni’s personal assistant in 2021 and had been the assistant linebackers coach in 2023. He now moves to defensive quality control under Fangio. Williams was the nickels coach last season and now moves to assistant LB coach/quality control.
The new coaches on the defensive side all had prior relations with Fangio except new LB coach Bobby King, who had a history with Sirianni dating back to their time together with the Chargers.
Fangio’s top assistants will be former Seattle DC Clint Hurtt, who is senior defensive assistant/defensive line, and passing game coordinator/defensive backs Christian Parker. Also new are cornerbacks coach Roy Anderson and safeties coach Joe Kasper.
After a solid season in 2023, special teams coordinator Michael Clay got an extension and his assistants Joe Pannunzio (assistant special teams coordinator) and Tyler Brown (special teams assistant) are both back.
The new staff highlights that Sirianni still has significant authority when it comes to his coaches and the scapegoating demanded by Lurie after the disappointing end to the 2023 season was targeted in its scope.
Now the questions shift to Moore's acumen as a play-caller and whether or not he and Nussmeier can fit their ideas seamlessly into the existing ecosystem of offensive coaches.
That's a fine line that will be monitored closely considering top 10 finishes in most meaningful offensive categories like total yards, points per game, third-down offense, fourth-down offense, and red-zone offense weren't good enough to buy another year for former OC Brian Johnson.
