It's Official: Vic Fangio Hired to Run Eagles Defense; Kliff Kingsbury Next?

Longtime coach Vic Fangio will replace Sean Desai and Matt Patricia as the new defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.

PHILADELPHIA – One coordinator down, one more to go.

In what was one of the worst kept secrets, the Philadelphia Eagles made it official anyway – Vic Fangio will be their defensive coordinator, they announced on Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles could be moving closer to naming their offensive coordinator as well, with former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury quite possibly their target.

Kingsbury, 44, spent last season as a senior offensive consultant with USC, working closely with Caleb Williams, who could be the first pick in this spring’s draft. USC’s head coach is Lincoln Riley, a close friend of Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, so some dots could be connected to Kingsbury.

Since news broke that Fangio and his previous employer, the Miami Dolphins, parted ways on Wednesday, the dots were connected, and reported that the deal was done.

Interestingly, news that Fangio, 65, and the Dolphins were parting broke during the Eagles’ end-of-season news conference with Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni on Wednesday, nine days after the team’s season ended.

Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio watches the defense during the scrimmage at Hard Rock Stadium, Saturday, August 5, 2023 in Miami Gardens / USA Today

Also interestingly, the news conference began 30 minutes after it was scheduled. The reason given for the delay was for “meetings.”

That seemed head-scratching at the time because the season was over. What sort of meetings was taking place that required a 30-minute delay, especially since it had already taken nine days for the Eagles brass to meet with the media?

Perhaps the reason was that the Eagles were already on the phone with Fangio or his representation about coming to Philly.

The Eagles already knew what they were getting with him after he was hired as a consultant last year during the postseason - albeit on the offensive side of the ball – for two weeks between Philly winning the NFC championship and playing in Super Bowl LVII.

They are getting a taskmaster who doesn't hesitate to hold his defensive players accountable.

When a player gets in his doghouse, it can be difficult to get out, as Dolphins second-round rookie pick, cornerback Cam Smith, experienced this past year. Fangio rubbed many the wrong way and, reportedly, some veterans had gone to Miami head coach Mike McDaniel.

Fangio, who hails from Dumore in Northeastern Pennsylvania, was on speed dial with former Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon during Gannon’s two-year run with the Eagles before taking over as the Cardinals’ head coach after the Super Bowl.

Fangio was set to be the Eagles DC after Gannon left, but before it became official that Gannon would be taking the head coaching job, Fangio was already signed by the Dolphins to be their DC.

The Dolphins finished 10th in total defense this past year – seventh against the run and 15th versus the pass. Miami forced 24 turnovers, with 15 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.

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By contrast, the Eagles ended 26th in total defense – 10th against the run and 31st versus the pass. Philly forced just 18 turnovers – nine interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.

Miami was third in the league with 56 sacks and surrendered 23 points per game. The Eagles had 43 sacks and gave up 25.1 points per game.

Personnel certainly plays a part in that, but so does coaching. It will be up to Roseman now to give Fangio what he needs to run his defense.