Shane Steichen Quickly Emerges as Hot Name on NFL Coaching Carousel

The Eagles offensive coordinator has already gotten three interview requests
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The NFL's hiring cycle is in full swing and Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen is proving to be one of the more popular names.

Of the five openings around the league, Steichen, the play-caller of the Eagles' third-ranked offense, has been requested to interview for 60% of them. Houston, which has also requested to speak with Philadelphia DC Jonathan Gannon, Indianapolis, and Carolina all want to explore things with Steichen.

Denver, which moved on from Nathanial Hackett before his rookie season was even completed, and Arizona, which fired Kliff Kingsbury, are the only two openings that haven't requested to speak to Steichen yet but the Cardinals, who are also looking for a new GM, have not yet made any reported requests, focusing first on the executive position.

Both Steichen, 37, and Gannon, 40, are permitted to interview in a virtual fashion during the Eagles' bye week before the divisional round of the playoffs.

Last month, Steichen was asked about potentially getting head-coaching interviews, something that was obviously going to come to fruition after a 14-3 regular season.

"If that opportunity came about, that would be awesome but right now we're focused on the (ext opponent), and that's it," Steichen said at the time.

The Eagles' offense was one of the most impressive in the league this season as third-year quarterback Jalen Hurts took a massive leap in his development from a competent starter in 2021 to an MVP candidate this season.

While a late-season shoulder sprain derailed Hurts' case for MVP honors, Philadelphia finished 14-1 with him as the starter. The offense as a whole was third in points scored, ninth in passing, and fifth in rushing.

Along with Hurts, receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and running back Miles Sanders all had their best seasons from a statistical standpoint and all five starting offensive linemen: from left to right Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Isaac Seumalo, and Lane Johnson were either Pro bowl selections or alternates.

Also, a feather in Steichen's cap was the season before he came to Philadelphia when he was the OC with the Los Angeles Chargers when Justin Herbert was the Offensive Rookie of the Year so he already has the demonstrated performance of helping to develop very good young QBs.

If Steichen leaves for a head-coaching job, his likely replacement will come from within with passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo, and quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson the top names in the mix.

Johnson, though, could get plenty of bites for OC jobs elsewhere as well. Sirianni is also very high on assistant QB coach/offensive assistant Alex Tanney and he will likely move up the ladder again this offseason.

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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to


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John McMullen
JOHN MCMULLEN

John McMullen is a veteran reporter who has covered the NFL for over two decades. The current NFL insider for JAKIB Media, John is the former NFL Editor for The Sports Network where his syndicated column was featured in over 200 outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Herald. He was also the national NFL columnist for Today's Pigskin as well as FanRag Sports. McMullen has covered the Eagles on a daily basis since 2016, first for ESPN South Jersey and now for Eagles Today on SI.com's FanNation. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey and part of 6ABC.com's live postgame show after every Eagles game. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen