New Staff is Taking Shape

Posted: January 24th, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on New Staff is Taking Shape

Nick Sirianni is starting to fill out his coaching staff. Of course, he could only do that if he were officially the head coach. Let’s check in and see what’s happening on that front.

Boom. There it is. Just a few days late, but better late than never.

Let’s take a look at what we know so far.

Head Coach – Nick Sirianni
Defensive Coordinator – Jonathan Gannon
Offensive Line – Jeff Stoutland
Passing Game Coordinator – Kevin Patullo
Defensive Line – Tracy Rocker

I  wrote about Gannon last night.

The big news here is retaining Stoutland, one of the best OL coaches in the league. He also plays a big part in designing and calling the run game. Sirianni will now match up Stoutland’s running game with the new passing game.

Patullo’s background is coaching WRs. He’s also worked with QBs. I think it is encouraging that Sirianni and Patullo have a lot of experience with coaching receivers. That has been a weak spot here for a while. Hopefully the new coaches can help turn that position into a strength.

You may wonder about the Eagles going with a passing game coordinator. One of the problems this year was that it seemed like there were too many cooks in the kitchen. Shouldn’t the organization learn from that? This is a new model that plenty of teams are going to. I don’t think job titles and duties were the issue in 2020. I think that staff was cobbled together awkwardly and just never developed as hoped. It was a year long blind date gone horribly wrong.

Sirianni is being selective with who he hires. These aren’t all the hottest names in the coaching world. These are guys he wants. That’s important. You need smart, talented coaches, but chemistry is also important. To use the cliche of cliches, everyone has to be on the same page.

Sirianni is still talking to plenty of candidates. There are more jobs to be filled.

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One thing we do know…Duce Staley won’t be back.

This is good news, for Duce and the Eagles.

Duce obviously wants to be a head coach or coordinator. The best way to do that is to go build the resume. Staying the RBs coach in Philly wasn’t going to change anything. Sirianni wasn’t likely to name him OC. Sirianni is trying to find coaches he has a history with. He did hire Stoutland as an unknown, but Stout has an outstanding reputation around the league (and college football).

Duce has never been an OC. Sirianni would have been taking a big chance by going with someone he doesn’t know and who doesn’t have ideal experience.

I say this is good for the Eagles because they no longer have to deal with the questions around Duce. I think everyone in the organization would tell you they want the best for Duce, but making him head coach or OC is tough. The timing and circumstances have to be right. Duce was just part of a staff that went 4-11-1. Firing Doug Pederson and promoting Duce would have been very awkward. What would make you think Duce had the answers to turn the team around?

By letting him go to another team, Duce can be exposed to new ideas and get more experience. He very well could be a top candidate the next time the Eagles go looking for a coach (although hopefully that won’t be for a while).

I’ll be following him wherever he goes. I hope he gets the job he wants at some point. I know I’d enjoy his press conferences a heck of a lot more than Doug’s.

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Dorsey was a consultant with the Eagles. He’ll have a more definitive position in Detroit.

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