The sentiment surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles doesn’t feel very positive. The decision to retain Nick Sirianni as an effectual CEO head coach won’t please the most passionate fan base in the NFL after he oversaw an epic collapse to finish the 2023 season.
The Eagles hired Vic Fangio as their new defensive coordinator and Kellen Moore as their new offensive coordinator after losing six of their final seven games. The new coaching structure limits Sirianni’s schematic responsibilities. He likely won’t be the main influence on the Philadelphia offense after three seasons.
“If the offensive coordinator is going to be in charge of the offense and the defensive coordinator is going to be in charge of the defense, what is your role going to be?” -Tim McManus
Eagles Stick With Sirianni
The former Division III wide receiver spent 12 years as an offensive assistant coach. The experience included three seasons as the OC of the Indianapolis Colts before the Eagles hired him in 2021. He spoke about adjusted responsibilities in 2024 that align with the CEO head coach.
“My job is to be the head coach of the team, not the head coach of the offense, not the head coach of the defense, not the head coach of the special teams…That’s building the culture. That’s making sure the culture is working with our five core values…I know that when I have that connection with the guys on the football team, that’s when the culture is working at a high level.” –Nick Sirianni
Nick Sirianni: The New CEO Head Coach
Give credit to Tim McManus of ESPN and 97.5 The Fanatic for challenging Sirianni to explain the concept of a CEO head coach on the record for fans and others outside the organization. McManus didn’t say it was completely invalid. Barrett Brooks even supported Sirianni’s answer as a guest on The Best Show Ever.
“That’s enough. That’s what a head coach is. You’re asking a guy to say ‘Why am I here? I’m here to be the head coach.’ I thought he defended himself pretty well. He’s the head coach. He sets the culture.” -Barrett Brooks
Successful coaches like John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens and Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers have succeeded creating a winning environment using leadership skills that outweigh their schematic contributions on offense or defense.
Bill Belichick put together arguably the best head coaching career in NFL history with some similarities to the CEO role. More recently, Dan Campbell led the Detroit Lions to their best season since before the Super Bowl era.
However, when Jeffrey Lurie kept Nick Sirianni in charge, he didn’t protect the organization from three potential issues that could sink the tenure of a head coach who led the Eagles to a Super Bowl in his second season on the sidelines at Lincoln Financial Field.
Weaknesses in Culture
The 2022 Eagles reached Super Bowl LVII with a loaded roster as the primary root of their success. The talent doesn’t discredit Sirianni for an accomplishment that very few NFL head coaches can reach so quickly.
His subjective core principles became substantial when the team reached a level of continuity that their opponents never achieved. Situational football became a key strength, and Sirianni wisely and humbly avoided overcoaching. However, those strengths disappeared late in the 2023 season.
Repeated turnover issues belittled his emphasis on ball control. Fundamental mistakes proved the Eagles weren’t a disciplined team.
Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown didn’t show situational awareness in the final minute of a loss against the Seattle Seahawks when they ignored the opportunity to get in range and allow a top-tier NFL kicker to give them a chance to force overtime.
Connectivity wasn’t present when when the defense was completely out of sync against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the point of absolute embarrassment. Sirianni and his coaching staff lost the conviction that drives a team to compete in the NFL.
Could the subjective idea of culture improve next season? Maybe, but make no mistake about it. Sirianni’s culture failed the 2023 Eagles.
Sideline Temperment
Culture will dominate the offseason conversation, but one underdiscussed concept is an objective weakness of the Eagles head coach. Sirianni himself admitted after the New York Giants game on Christmas Day that his sideline temperament wasn’t helping his players stay collected.
The mistake doesn’t align with a wise theory of coaching about the importance of remaining calm despite the inevitable chaos of professional sports.
Jeff McLane added one key element to the concern over Sirianni’s sideline temperament.
“He berates officials and has developed a bad reputation among crews in the league.”-Jeff McLane
Shouldn’t a CEO head coach be the type of leader who keeps his composure when chaos presents itself? Shouldn’t he recognize that building strong relationships with officials and other league personnel has long-term impact on a reputation within the fraternity of the NFL?
Coaching the Coaches
If the CEO head coach isn’t making the primary schematic contributions, he should enable his assistants to develop gameplans. Coaching coaches was supposed to be a strength of Nick Sirianni at the beginning of his tenure. Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon validated it by landing NFL head coaching jobs.
Add it to the list of strengths that went out the window when the 2023 season plummeted. Sean Desai didn’t last a full season as the DC. The benefit of hindsight suggests that Dennard Wilson would’ve been a better choice as a respected in-house assistant. Wilson left the organization after the 2022 season when he didn’t land the promotion.
If Sirianni deliberately chose to hand responsibility to Matt Patricia as the primary decision-maker on defense to finish the 2023 season, he mishandled his assistant coaching staff about as badly as he possibly could have.
Brian Johnson entered the 2023 season as a potential candidate on the head coaching market. Sirianni failed to build a working chemistry with his OC, and the Philadelphia offense fell short of its potential in Johnson’s first season in the position. How is this theoretical strength going to help the Eagles in 2024 and beyond?
Geoff Mosher spoke before the 2023 season on The John Kincade Show about how the Eagles believed they identified this advantage in Sirianni. Mosher contrasted it with a fatal flaw in the demise of Doug Pederson.
“First of all, he coaches his players. You see it. He also coaches his coaches. I think that was a big failure of the Doug Pederson era, the coddling of coaches, not wanting to move on…Doug, from what I was told… I think was a little too nice to his coaches.” -Nick Sirianni
Sirianni certainly didn’t hold on too long to his coordinator choices. Could he bounce back from the weakness and recreate his success enabling Steichen and Gannon to get the most out of their respective units in 2022? Yes, it’s possible.
However, the two new coordinator choices don’t suggest the organization’s confidence in Sirianni’s strengths. Vic Fangio has spent 23 years on NFL sidelines developing a reputation as one of the best DCs in the league. He spent three of those seasons as head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Although Kellen Moore doesn’t have as much coaching experience, he also isn’t a newcomer on the NFL scene who needs a CEO head coach to enable him to reach the next level.
The CEO Head Coach
When you hear the chatter about CEO head coaches succeeding in the NFL, former players and experienced analysts might reasonably defend the concept.
Nick Sirianni also didn’t take the Eagles to the playoffs three seasons in a row by accident. He could turn things around in 2024 with a roster still loaded with firepower, especially on offense.
However, don’t forget that Jeffrey Lurie hired Sirianni because of a projected skill set set that disastrously failed to help the Eagles in 2023.
