The end of the NFL regular season is here, and with that comes “Black Monday,” when underperforming teams around the league fire head coaches and general managers, or in some cases, surprisingly keep them. There were a few decisions that were relevant to the Philadelphia Eagles, so let’s round those up.
The Giants decided to retain GM Joe Schoen
It feels like every January the Giants put out a “We’re mad but we’re keeping (fill in HC or GM)” statement. Here’s this year’s version:
You can find last year’s version here. Anyway, the rest of the NFC East rejoices.
Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen were both hired during the 2022 offseason, and there were immediate results, as the Giants finished with a 9-7-1 record, and a trip to the playoffs. It’s been a steep downhill trajectory since. In 2023, they finished 6-11 with a -141 point differential, before a disastrous 2024 season during which they finished 3-14 with a -142 point differential. In 2025, Daboll was fired after a 2-8 start, and the team finished 4-13 with a -58 point differential.
Schoen’s four-year tenure has resulted in a cumulative record of 22-45-1 (0.331), and a cumulative point differential of -347.
Giants fans can’t even enjoy the team’s wins, as two of them this season came in the final two games, when losses would have guaranteed them the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Instead they’ll be picking fifth, a spot that will likely not appeal to teams trying to trade up for a quarterback. It will be the seventh time in nine years that the Giants’ own initial pick landed in the top 6.
• 2018: 2
• 2019: 6
• 2020: 4
• 2022: 11
• 2021: 5
• 2023: 25
• 2024: 6
• 2025: 3
• 2026: 5
Schoen took over for Dave Gettleman, a dinosaur GM who did not seem to understand modern NFL trends or analytics. Gettleman ran the Giants’ front office from 2018 to 2021, a four-year span that produced a 19-46 record, and four double-digit loss seasons. An uninspired Pat Shurmur began the Gettleman era as the Giants’ head coach, and gave way to Joe Judge, who was in over his head. The bar for improvement was extraordinarily low, but Daboll and Schoen largely put a product on the field that has been every bit as bad.
Ultimately, the Giants’ shortcomings over the last decade falls on ownership, which can’t get hires right, and can’t see when their current personnel is failing beyond repair.
The Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon
The Cardinals got out to a 2-0 start in 2025, but lost 13 of their last 14 games, finishing 3-14, last in the NFC West, as usual.
Jonathan Gannon was hired to be the head coach during the 2023 offseason. The Cardinals’ records during his tenure:
Jonathan GannonRecord NFC West finish 2023 4-13 Last 2024 8-9 3rd 2025 3-14 Last
That would be a career record of 15-36 (0.294). Along the way, Gannon has had more than his share of cringeworthy moments, like when he made up a bunch of weird stuff that didn’t happen when he was in Philly during his initial press conference with the Cardinals.
Or this infamous moment:
Or this weird “bus” speech from “Cardinals Flight Plan,” which was basically a Hard Knocks ripoff:
Or when he hit a player, lol.
The Cardinals’ head coaching hires prior to Gannon were Kliff Kingsbury, who lasted four seasons, and Steve Wilks, who lasted one season. Hiring Gannon to be the head coach in the first place never made any sense. I mean, did owner Michael Bidwell not watch him basically give a Super Bowl away? Did he not talk to him? How and when did Bidwell decide, “Oh hell yes, this guy is a leader”?
A few national reporters projected that Gannon’s job was safe, which would have been madness. The Cardinals did at least make the very obvious decision to cut bait.
The Commanders fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt
The Commanders’ defense finished 27th in points allowed, and 22nd in yards allowed. The result is that defensive coordinator Joe Whitt was fired.
You may remember Whitt from the leadup to the NFC Championship Game, when Whitt gave a tough guy interview about how his players were going to hit Jalen Hurts all day.
And then Whitt’s defense gave up seven rushing TDs.
It looks like Kliff Kingsbury could be out as Commanders offensive coordinator, too, one way or the other
Kingsbury could find a head coaching job. (Personally, I find that unlikely.)
He could also be fired from his offensive coordinator job in Washington, per Dianna Russini of The Athletic.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn is expected back for the 2026 season, though changes to the offense and the defense remain possible after Washington has slumped to a 4-12 record. Quinn took over defensive play calling from Joe Whitt Jr. in early November, and Washington has also had conversations about potentially moving on from Kingsbury even if he doesn’t get a head-coaching job. Some in the building say there’s been a disconnect between Kingsbury and general manager Adam Peters. When was the last time we were watching to see if an offensive coordinator was going to get fired while he was also preparing for head coaching interviews? We’ll see how this shakes out.
It’s worth noting that the Eagles interviewed Kingsbury for their open offensive coordinator position during the offseason they eventually hired Kellen Moore.
UPDATE: Kingsbury is out.
The Commanders and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury have agreed mutually to part ways, per sources.
Kingsbury, who had one of the NFL’s top offenses in Jayden Daniels’ rookie year, has head coaching interest and otherwise will have multiple OC options. pic.twitter.com/H0gmYIkSFE
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 6, 2026
The Cowboys fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus
Per Russini, Ebuerflus is out in Dallas:
It’s not Eberflus’ fault that the Cowboys traded away Micah Parsons, who is pretty safely one of the five best defensive players in the NFL.
And, sure, the Cowboys’ defense stunk this season, but that’s probably more because they had bad players.
The Dolphins requested to interview Eagles Assistant GM Alec Halaby
Halaby got a few nibbles last offseason, and he’s got another one from the Dolphins already this offseason.
My guess is that Halaby will land a GM job somewhere in the next few weeks.
