DC Update

The Eagles have openings at both coordinator spots. Nick Sirianni said the team would look at internal and external candidates for each job.

It feels like the OC spot will go to Brian Johnson, who was the team’s QB coach last year. He has developed a really good reputation around the football world and is seen as a coach on the rise. Most importantly, he has a strong relationship with Jalen Hurts. In case you don’t remember, Johnson has known Hurts since he was filling up diapers instead of the stat sheet. That bond has helped bring out the best in Hurts. You wouldn’t want to change that now.

Jalen Hurts on Brian Johnson: pic.twitter.com/FGDbRXyM5Y

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) February 15, 2023

The Eagles are lucky they have a coach like Johnson ready to take over for Shane Steichen. The offense has the potential to continue to be great with Johnson calling plays and Hurts making plays. They could be a dynamic combo, like PBR and Funyuns.

Maybe Sirianni has considered some outside candidates. Maybe that is just him making too big of a statement. We’ll see.

As for DC, they are definitely looking at outside candidates.

Vance Joseph spent about 8 hours at Broncos headquarters today interviewing for DCoord job. Interview went well. Both Joseph and Rex Ryan run attack 3-4. Decision may come within next couple days. Eagles interview with Joseph tentatively set up for early next week. #9sports

— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) February 18, 2023

The Eagles have requested permission to interview Seahawks associate head coach/defense Sean Desai for their vacant defensive coordinator position, per league source.

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) February 17, 2023

Joseph is a veteran DC and would make sense from that perspective. He would be odd because he is one of the leading blitzers in the NFL. The Eagles have blitzed very little in recent years. That was both a philosophical choice and one that wasn’t really needed (outside of 2021).

Joseph would inherit a talented defense that wouldn’t need to blitz as much. Every coach would rather get to the QB only rushing four if possible. When that doesn’t work, VJ doesn’t hesitate. He turns his guys loose and they attack.

Desai isn’t as experienced. He was the DC for the Bears in 2021. Aside from that, he’s been a positional coach or assistant. Last year he helped to run Seattle’s defense. Desai is attractive because he is familiar with the Eagles style of defense. He coached under Vic Fangio for four years in Chicago. Jonathan Gannon installed a system based on a lot of Fangio’s ideas.

Desaid did some good things in his one year as DC.

Though the Bears finished in the bottom third of the NFL in scoring defense and turnovers created in Desai’s lone season as defensive play caller, they finished sixth in total yardage allowed, third in passing yards allowed, first in pressure percentage, and fourth in sacks. Making those last two numbers all the more remarkable, he didn’t have star pass rusher Khalil Mack or defensive tackle Akiem Hicks available for a combined 18 games.

How did Desai accomplish this? Still having a healthy Robert Quinn available certainly helped, but he did a fantastic job of incorporating stunts and blitz packages to maximize on his remaining personnel and turn up the heat on opposing signal callers, which in turn helped take pressure off of a secondary that dealt with several injuries of their own during the season.

Interestingly, the Bears managed to rank in the top five in sacks and pressure rate while playing extensive two-deep safety coverages, as Desai’s prior connections with esteemed defensive guru Vic Fangio were evident schematically. Per TruMedia, the Bears dialed up Cover 6 on 18.6 percent of their snaps, second behind only Fangio’s Broncos. They also ran Cover 2 and Cover 4 “middle of field open” coverages on nearly 10 percent of their defensive snaps.

Seattle’s defense didn’t have a strong year in 2022, but Desai apparently focused on coverage and they were good at pass defense. They were 10th in completion percentage allowed and 13th in opposing passer rating. Seattle was near the bottom of the league in those categories in 2021.

I know I made the Wade Phillips comment to get a joke in, but Sean Desai is actually the only external DC candidate I would believe is a realistic option for the Eagles. Vance Joseph wouldn’t make any sense at all given what Sirianni wants in a DC. Dennard Wilson is still likely.

— Honest NFL (@TheHonestNFL) February 17, 2023

Both guys are interesting, but neither is a home run.

I like Wilson, but it would make me nervous to have him learning how to be a DC with a team you expect to contend for a title. I’d feel better if he got hired and Sirianni also brought in a senior defensive assistant to help with strategy and gameplans. We’ll see how all of this plays out.

If you do want to get a feel for Wilson, here he is with Franimal.

https://twitter.com/WardonSports/status/1614381314144075777

*****

If you need a good laugh, here you go. Jokes are based on over-the-top stereotypes, but still made me laugh.

Things To Never Say To An Eagles Fan https://t.co/dXo5QFYXgn pic.twitter.com/8YG0q55FQv

— The Onion (@TheOnion) February 12, 2023

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