Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon Finalizing Deal to Coach Cardinals
Eagles fans got their wish. Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon is finalizing a deal to be the next Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals. This now means that both the Eagles’ offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator are leaving to coach another team. Though Eagles fans’ feelings are probably a bit different. Shane Steichen they will be sad to see go. Jonathan Gannon… not so much.
It should be said, that under Gannon the Eagles’ defense was very productive this season. Well, at least until the Super Bowl. They lead the league in sacks, were up there in takeaways, and gave up the second least points per game. But, none of that mattered in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs picked apart the Eagles’ defense, with guys running wide-open on seemingly every play. They got 0 stops in the 2nd half. And in the end, it was them who gave up the final drive that let the Chiefs take the lead. There were 0 sacks, and 0 takeaways from them in that final game. And most Eagles fans put the blame squarely on Jonathan Gannon.
Eagles fans were never happy with Gannon’s scheme, even when it worked. People who came up watching the aggressive Buddy Ryan and then Jim Johnson defenses were taken aback by Gannon’s scheme. It revolved around avoiding big plays but was very soft underneath. The results vs bad and average offenses were fantastic. But we saw in both seasons that good Qbs were often very capable of finding the holes in his zone.
His players have a different view of him than fans though. Haason Reddick spoke about wanting Gannon to stay. Which makes some sense, given he had the best season of his career under Gannon.
“He lets his players be who they are at the end of the day, and if he decides to leave, whoever’s getting him I think they have a great head coach and someone the players will really take to. So, we’ll see what happens. Hopefully he doesn’t go, but that’s for my own selfish reasons.”- Haason Reddick
There is not an immediately obvious in-house candidate to replace like there is with Steichen. We know already it will be Brian Johnson taking over for the Eagles on offense. But we don’t know who that will be on defense. Denard Wilson is probably the in-house name with the most traction. He filled the role of DB coach and Defensive Passing Game Coordinator last year and is known to be well-respected around the team and the league. There were rumors the Eagles eyed Vic Fangio, who spent time as a consultant with the team this year, as a potential replacement. But he has already accepted a DC job elsewhere.
Next year’s defense will likely not be as talented as this one. Having Hurts on a rookie deal allowed them to pour more money into the defense as usual. But that is changing, and many of their key players are free agents. They will not be able to keep them all, so at least talent-wise, it may be a step back. But it could possibly be a better-coached defense. As good as Gannon did during the year, his defense completely fell apart in the Super Bowl. They couldn’t make a single play when called upon.
Now we will see if his coaching style was really what held the defense back. The Eagles likely knew he was leaving, and already have a plan for his replacement. We do not have a clear idea of who that is yet, but it shouldn’t take too long for them to make a replacement hire. And whoever that is, will have a lot of pressure on them to outperform Gannon despite having less talent on the roster.
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