Is Eagles offensive coordinator job desirable? Latest on search and candidates – The Athletic

One week has passed in the Philadelphia Eagles’ search for an offensive coordinator. That’s a blink in most searches for an executive, and seemingly an eternity for a fan base eager to learn what direction Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie will turn to replace Kevin Patullo.

With that in mind, here are Eight Eagles Thoughts about the coordinator search in its second week:

1. The Eagles will not land Mike McDaniel or Brian Daboll, the two coaches who appeared to be the top options in their search, as The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported. McDaniel is set to go to the Los Angeles Chargers if he does not become a head coach elsewhere, and Daboll is expected to land in Tennessee if he’s not hired in Buffalo.

With Kevin Stefanski taking over as the Atlanta Falcons head coach and Todd Monken a favorite to follow John Harbaugh in New York, the Eagles are expected to miss out on the initial biggest names on the market.

The Eagles wanted to be ambitious with this hire, but they weren’t guaranteed to bring in a big fish. That’s why they cast a wide net from the onset, as you can see from the interviews so far. I don’t get the sense that a hire is imminent. They’ve been willing to offer autonomy of the offense, from what I understand, but other factors are under consideration (more on this below).

In 2024, when the Eagles last made an external hire at offensive coordinator, they agreed to hire Kellen Moore on Jan. 27 and officially announced the hire on Feb. 5. As a frame of reference, the season ended on Jan. 15. So the Moore agreement came 12 days after the season. That would be Friday if it goes under this timeline.

Of course, the movement has been slower this season. There are still six teams searching for head coaches and 12 offensive coordinator openings (which would be nine if you assign McDaniel to Los Angeles, Daboll to Tennessee and Monken to New York). It’s not as if the Eagles are standing up and looking around at the end of musical chairs. However, it’s fair to say their top targets for their seat won’t fill it.

Missing out on McDaniel and Daboll could slow the urgency, as it could allow for a more exhaustive search. If there’s not a clear favorite, it would be sensible for the Eagles to flood the candidate pool (and perhaps even wait for the results of this weekend’s games). The urgency would come if they were at risk of losing a candidate or needed to reconfigure the coaching staff. Short of that, it makes sense to be exhaustive.

2. So, where do the Eagles go from here? Among the coaches who’ve reportedly interviewed or been requested to interview for the job: Former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, former Giants offensive coordinator/interim head coach Mike Kafka, former Miami Dolphins passing game coordinator (previously Houston Texans offensive coordinator) Bobby Slowik, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter — and then on Wednesday, former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator (and once Chicago Bears head coach) Matt Nagy.

These are not the headline-grabbing names you might have expected one week ago. They’re all coaches with some play-caller experience.

Kafka has been of interest to the Eagles (and played for the team) in previous coaching cycles. Cooter worked for the Eagles in 2021, with Sirianni in Kansas City in the early 2010s, and called plays for Matthew Stafford in Detroit from 2016 to 2018. That blend of familiarity and experience might be appealing.

In this group, Slowik is comparable to the post-hype sleeper in your fantasy football league. After his first season as the Texans coordinator, he was a head coaching candidate and earned a contract extension. He was dismissed one year later after the offense regressed. Slowik is from the Kyle Shanahan tree and worked last year under Mike McDaniel in Miami.

The Texans were No. 10 in EPA/dropback in his first season before falling to No. 23 in 2024. Sacks were a significant issue. The Texans were not significantly better without Slowik this season. If he can improve in Act 2 with his passing concepts blended with Jeff Stoutland’s rush concepts, you can see the draw after missing on McDaniel.

There’s no perfect candidate on this list. It all depends on what they prioritize — and who is interested. (For example, Robinson is under strong consideration in Tampa Bay.)

Nagy fits the description that was described last week — an established play caller with head-coaching experience. His coaching career started with the Eagles. He’s from the region. His defensive coordinator in Chicago was Vic Fangio. He’s worked with different quarterbacks, including Patrick Mahomes. He’s won a Super Bowl ring.

Of course, Mahomes’ least productive seasons came with Nagy as coordinator (while Andy Reid was the primary play caller). Reid was ready to bring Eric Bieniemy back, though it’s framed in terms of Nagy’s career advancement. There’s a high floor and a level of competency that could be appealing. Should the Eagles shoot for something greater than a high floor and level of competency? It depends on the search’s objective and Nagy’s ideas for Philadelphia.

3. The coach I’d monitor who could still be a potential big swing is Joe Brady. He’s a candidate to remain in Buffalo and also interviewed for the top jobs in Arizona, Baltimore and Las Vegas. However, if he becomes available, he’d be the one I would target. Brady actually interviewed for the Eagles’ head coaching job in 2021 that went to Sirianni. He oversaw elite offenses during the past two seasons in Buffalo, combining for No. 1 in EPA/play during those campaigns.

It helps to have an MVP quarterback, although he’s lacked high-level talent at receiver and has been creative with different packages. He’s been at or near the top of the league on third down and in the red zone, in explosive-play rate and drive-score rate. This is moot if he gets a top job. If the Bills go in a different direction and Brady becomes available, he’d be a smart hire for the Eagles.

I still wonder if Kliff Kingsbury could be a lingering candidate. You haven’t seen his name surface, but he’s a coach who has piqued the Eagles’ interest in the past. The Eagles have been intrigued by the air raid roots before. The big jump Hurts made at Oklahoma came in a Kingsbury-like offense. There are extremes in the profile, such as the no-huddle rate and shotgun rate, and you wonder if the run game concepts blend with what the Eagles use.

If you’re looking for efficiency in the passing game, Kingsbury has provided it (the Commanders were No. 4 in EPA/dropback in 2024), but there’s a system adjustment that would be required. He’s also a head coach candidate elsewhere.

Again, there’s no perfect candidate. I’d pay close attention to Brady’s status.

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady interviewed for the Eagles’ head coaching job in 2021 when Philadelphia hired Nick Sirianni. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

4. There are differing views on the desirability of the job. On one hand, this job has been a springboard for three head coaches in the past decade. That’s not a coincidence and that should matter. If you succeed in Philadelphia, you’re in the spotlight. It’s also a franchise that is willing to pay top dollar for coordinators (see Fangio) and has high-end talent on the roster. There’s league-wide respect for front office strategy and ownership that an aspiring head coach could find beneficial.

However, it’s not a desirable job for all candidates, and certainly not the most desirable. You’re inheriting a quarterback when you come to Philadelphia. I don’t think that’s a negative, as it’s a quarterback who’s proven he can win a Super Bowl and has qualities to excel, but it’s certainly not a blank slate at the position.

The coach must believe in Hurts (and, in my view, there must be an understanding that Hurts will use his legs). You’re also entering a high-pressure situation. That’s not the external pressure of a demanding fan base and media market. Instead, the internal pressure and environment should not be dismissed. There are internal dynamics at play, from the demand to win immediately to opinions from different high-level stakeholders.

This is a high-upside gig, but it’s certainly not a cushy one. Philadelphia is not for everybody, especially when there are options. That’s been apparent already. For some, like Fangio in 2024, it’s a destination.

As for Sirianni’s role in this, my understanding is that he’s been flexible about granting autonomy to an offense coordinator. He’s also been flexible on scheme — targeting McDaniel and Daboll, who run different schemes. His presence is meant to accommodate a high-level coordinator. But it’s also true that a coordinator is entering a win-now mode for Sirianni and the franchise. It’s not as if the staff has a three-year time horizon. And this position doesn’t come with a three-year time horizon.

5. The other factor at play: What does your offensive depth chart look like? Saquon Barkley said this season that Lane Johnson and A.J. Brown are the two best players on the team. If you’re taking this job, you don’t know if either player will be here next season. Johnson could retire and Brown could get traded. This offense is considerably different without Johnson and Brown.

The notion that the Eagles have blue-chip players on offense only works if those blue-chip players are in an Eagles uniform. The offensive line did not play to its standard last season, so there must be confidence that better health can allow that group to return to form. And there’s bound to be an infusion of young, cost-controlled talent. That could excite a coordinator, but it also presents ambiguity.

The coach must have a plan for Hurts, and the incoming coordinator might need to adjust his scheme. For example, Sirianni adjusted the offense he planned to run in Philadelphia based on Hurts’ skill set. They’ve been to the playoffs five times in five seasons, so the proof of concept is present. That should be a plus — the best coaches maximize talent. But a coach coming in needs to have an offense that accentuates Hurts and the roster around him.

6. It’s clear the Eagles are valuing play-calling experience. That makes sense; they’re in win-now mode and don’t see this as an on-the-job-training role. Otherwise, they might make more of an argument for Patullo to grow in Year 2. However, you wonder if they’d reach a point in the search during which they’d at least explore quarterback coaches or passing game coordinators who do not have play-calling experience, if for nothing else than the fresh perspective and the upside (I’d also include college play-callers without NFL experience, a category that’s intrigued the Eagles before).

It might be harder to sell, and there’s certainly bust potential, but the offensive mind and diversity of experience can potentially trump the lack of calling plays in the NFL. All things being equal, I’d expect the coach to have NFL play-calling experience. If they’re not equal, I wouldn’t let 2023 and 2025 get in the way.

By the way, the Eagles would likely be pleased with the 2023 offense when compared to candidates in this cycle. They were No. 8 in EPA/play, No. 9 in EPA/dropback, No. 7 in points/game, No. 8 in yards/game, and No. 2 in rush success rate. There were problems against the blitz and turnovers were an issue, but a blind résumé test would favor Brian Johnson.

The Eagles won the Super Bowl the following season with Kellen Moore, so you can’t complain about the change. However, I’ve long wondered what would have happened had they allowed Johnson to grow on the job.

7. The one point that I think is overstated is that the Eagles need staying power with the role. I understand the Eagles’ offensive coordinator has been a revolving door, especially with Hurts. He’s started every season with a different play caller since high school. If the Eagles’ most significant issue is that the offense is so good that the coordinator is hired as a head coach, so be it. You’d take that problem.

It’s a luxury to have someone like Fangio, who is likely in his position until he retires. That’s not the norm. It’s problematic to qualify the search in such a way that continuity could keep you from finding the best candidate. Howie Roseman seems to agree.

“As much as you’d like to have continuity and would like to have guys here for a long period of time, we want to win. We have an urgency to win right now,” Roseman said. “If that comes with the ramifications that we lose good people because they’ve earned head coaching jobs, we’ll live with that.

8. Finally, if you want to follow trends, the Eagles should hire Greg Roman. The last three times the Eagles made the Super Bowl (2017, 2022, 2024), their offensive coordinator came from the Chargers: Frank Reich, Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore. Roman, a South Jersey native, is available.

If only it were that simple.