Former Eagles Coach Jonathan Gannon Having Hard Time Finding Truth

Despite saying he had not had contact about the Arizona Cardinals' head coaching job until after the Super Bowl, it came out that Gannon and the Cards did talk
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PHILADELPHIA – Jonathan Gannon said the first time he was told about his interview to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals was in the aftermath of Super Bowl LVII, when general manager Howie Roseman informed him he wouldn’t be boarding the team plane back to Philly.

Roseman was reportedly told he would in fact be staying behind in Phoenix.

That may be true, but as far as it being the first time he had heard about the Cardinals’ interest wasn’t true, which is a kind way of saying it was a lie.

We know that now because, minutes before the start of the 2023 NFL Draft, news broke that the Cardinals and Eagles had reached a settlement in a tampering case that caught everybody off guard.

The wording wasn’t tampering, but “an instance of impermissible contact” by Arizona during its head coaching search this past January. Teams aren’t allowed to talk to other head coaches during that week.

Evidently, the Cardinals and Gannon talked via Zoom in the days following the Eagles’ NFC Championship win over the San Francisco 49ers.

The Cardinals self-reported the violation, probably because Gannon came out and said during an interview earlier in the week that he talked to the Cardinals via Zoom before the Super Bowl.

Gannon is having a difficult time finding the truth. It was just last week when he burned a bridge in Philadelphia by misrepresenting the city of Philadelphia and its media.

So, let the conspiracy theories begin.

Gannon’s defense wasn’t prepared for what the Chiefs did to them in the second half, when Kansas City overcame a 24-14 deficit to win the championship, 38-35. The Eagles couldn’t make a stop.

Two of KC’s touchdowns were too easy, wide-open throws to Kadarius Toney from 5 yards and Skyy Moore from 4 that gave Kansas City a 35-27 lead with just over nine minutes to play.

Was Gannon preoccupied with getting the Cardinals’ job to prepare his team properly?

It’s a legitimate question, something that Gannon can now no longer be counted on to truthfully answer.


Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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Ed Kracz
ED KRACZ

Ed Kracz has been covering the Eagles full-time for over a decade and has written about Philadelphia sports since 1996. He wrote about the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series, the Flyers in their 2010 Stanely Cup playoff run to the finals, and was in Minnesota when the Eagles secured their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2017. Ed has received multiple writing awards as a sports journalist, including several top-five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.