Making sense of Sirianni hire

Edan Castiel, Entertainment Editor

Only three years ago the Philadelphia Eagles were at the top of the world.

They just had the best season in franchise history that ended with Philadelphia’s very first Super Bowl championship. It seemed the Eagles had a superstar at the quarterback position in Carson Wentz. They had an excellent head coach who had potential to be one of the league’s best in Doug Pederson.

What could go wrong?

Fast forward three years later: Everything went wrong.

The Eagles had one of their worst seasons in recent memory at 4-11-1, Pederson was fired a few days after the final game, and Wentz has been traded to Indianapolis.

Pederson, who at one point seemed to be the future of the franchise, has officially been kicked out of Lincoln Financial Field where there is a statue of him calling the “Philly Special” in the Super Bowl.

The move to fire Pederson seems impulsive as the coach made the playoffs three out of his five years in Philly. If that wasn’t enough, he also helped bring the first-ever Super Bowl to Philly. To make the decision to fire Pederson even more controversial, Philadelphia Eagles team owner Jeffery Lurie stated in the following press conference that Pederson, “did not deserve to be let go.”

This is one of the strangest things an owner could say after firing his coach. Although there are several different speculations, the fans of the Eagles have no clear-cut reason as to why Lurie made the decision to fire Pederson.

So, what now? Philadelphia, meet new head coach Nick Sirianni.

Sirianni, 39, was the offensive coordinator for 3 years in Indianapolis and is now the second-youngest hire in team history. When Sirianni was hired there was only one question Eagles fans asked: Who in the world is Sirianni?

The more you look into Sirianni hire, the more it makes sense. Initially, it seemed like Lurie just was trying to hop on the new NFL trend on hiring the youngest coach available. While his age probably did play a factor in his hire, it is certainly not the only reason why Sirianni caught Lurie’s eye.

For starters, Sirianni was the offensive coordinator in Indianapolis under head coach Frank Reich. Reich was a huge part of the Eagles’ success in 2017 as he was the offensive coordinator for Pederson before leaving to coach Indy. Lurie, who clearly misses Reich and what he has to offer, decided to bring back Reich’s closest ally in Sirianni.

Siranni’s resume in the NFL is short but certainly impressive. With his time in Indy he has produced a Top 10 offense, as the Colts offense ranked 8th in the 2020 season according to Pro Football Focus. He has also helped to develop a number of superstars as he has worked with athletes such as Quention Nelson, Philip Rivers, and Andrew Luck. Before his time with Indianapolis, Sirianni was a wide receivers coach for the Chargers. In his time with the Chargers he helped develop one of the league’s best receivers in Keenan Allen.

While Sirianni’s resume is impressive, it’s still very short and there are some clear concerns with making him a head coach. The biggest concern with the Sirianni hire is the very fact that he has never called plays. In his time in Indy, he would help design plays and execute them, but he never once called plays during a real NFL game. That is a huge red flag, as calling plays is one of the most important responsibilities of a head coach.

Another clear red flag with Siranni was his pretty bad opening press conference. Only a couple days after Siranni was hired he was scheduled to have his first press conference addressing the team and the fans. Sirianni’s opening statement felt extremely choppy as you could tell how nervous he was. . While it may not seem like a big deal, history shows that coaches who have a bad initial press conference tend to fail, for example Adam Gase’s press conference was laughably bad with the Jets and he lost his job in less than a year.

There is a lot of optimism and speculation around the Sirianni hire. It can prove to be a brilliant hire, or it can fall flat on its face. Regardless, Siranni has a very difficult job ahead of him as he is going to have to deal with a ruthless fanbase, a new quarterback in Jalen Hurts, and team with little-to-no cap space after the Wentz trade.

Siranni has his hands full.