Nick Sirianni’s future remains very much in jeopardy as he awaits a do-or-die meeting with Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie. The Philadelphia Eagles owner is reportedly vacationing in the Caribbean, preferring to relax and clear his mind before deciding the fate of his football franchise.
Lurie will expect Sirianni to present a plan on how to fix the broken Eagles. That includes a “pitch on potential new coordinators and assistant coaches,” according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. You may recall Lurie putting Doug Pederson through a similar wringer in 2020 only to fire the Super Bowl champion when he didn’t like the proposal. So, yes, Sirianni’s job with the Eagles is far from safe.
Meanwhile, Eagles players had a chance to defend their embattled leader prior to cleaning out their lockers on January 17. When allowed to openly advocate for a coaching change, the vast majority strongly backed Sirianni by citing his track record of three straight playoff appearances including a Super Bowl berth. Jason Kelce, without hesitation or prompting, threw all of his 295 pounds behind the current coaching staff.
“I love Nick. I think Nick’s a great coach, I really do. I think he’s a great head coach,” Kelce told reporters. “Obviously, nobody was good enough this year. I wasn’t, none of the players, none of the coaches, were good enough down the stretch. That’s the reality of this business. When you’re that bad it’s a collective thing, but I’ll always have faith in Nick Sirianni. I feel like he does a lot of things structurally and organizationally that are really well done. Obviously, we have a lot of things to fix to improve the outcomes and the offense in general, from my perspective, for next year. But, I think very, very highly of Nick Sirianni.”
Fletcher Cox — a card-carrying member of the so-called “Core Four” — grew agitated when reporters questioned him about Sirianni’s job security with the Eagles. He called one beat reporter a “clown” before angrily shooting down any speculation about a coaching change.
“What is there to talk about? He’s a winner. He’s a winning head coach,” Cox said. “Did we have some bumps this year? Yeah. But every head coach in every organization … everybody goes through it, but we don’t look at it like we’re going to fire a man who has, obviously, won 10-plus games two years in a row. That’s took this organization to three playoff appearances three years in a row. That’s a respect thing. He’s a good leader for this team. He does a really good job. Did we come up short? Yeah. Did things happen this year? Yeah. But I don’t discuss about firing a man, like this man gotta family … I don’t discuss anything about that.”
Jordan Mailata was quick to jump on the bandwagon, too. The Eagles’ left tackle referred to Sirianni as a “tremendous” coach and friend, adding that “whatever happens upstairs is out of my control.”
“If there’s a coaching change I’ll be very sad. I love Nick,” Mailata said. “He’s a tremendous coach and the person that he is … I’m just glad to call him my friend and I’m glad to call him my coach so it’s tough times, tough times, and I hate this part of the year because this is the worst part, the worst part.”
End of the Road for Jason Kelce? Not So Fast Eagles fans
Everyone knows Jason Kelce’s voice carries the loudest, echoing in raspy decibels from the locker room to the front office. He is the captain of captains and the undisputed leader in the huddle. What he says matters. But, will it be heard in the same vein if the 36-year-old center decides to retire? That’s a debate for another day. Kelce wasn’t ready to make an immediate decision on his open-ended future.
“I don’t know,” Kelce said. “That’s one of the beautiful things about the offseason. It’s unscheduled. Obviously, my brother [Travis Kelce] is still in the playoffs. I’d like to go get and watch him play, that doesn’t happen often, so maybe I’ll get an opportunity to go watch one of those games this week. You know, the Pro Bowl is coming up, so got that.”
Kelce also threw out a quote that could be interpreted as a sort of farewell message. In it, the Cleveland native expressed his gratitude for landing in Philly and resonating with one of the most passionate fan bases in sports.
“This team is nothing without the city, without the fans, and the support that engulfs it. I didn’t know it a long time ago when I was drafted here, how it would go when I got here — my agent said right when I was drafted, you have no idea how unbelievably you are going to fit in Philadelphia and I still remember Jason [Bernstein] saying that so I appreciate that.”
He continued by saying, “I think this city and this organization really feeds off of it and the fans, with the amount of media coverage, with the amount of importance that the fan base has in all the attention to it. This organization lives and breathes through those fans, and I was fortunate enough to be able to represent the city for a long time, so I really cherish the times that I’ve had, and I don’t know what’s next, but I think this city has, obviously, meant a lot to me.”
D’Andre Swift Talks Contract, Fletcher Cox Cleans Out Locker
The Eagles aren’t known for locking up running backs to long-term contracts so it’s possible D’Andre Swift played his last game for his hometown team last week. Despite a 1,000-yard season, and Pro Bowl nod, Swift is an impending free agent without an offer on the table. His clock starts ticking on March 13.
“Time is going to tell. We’ll see,” Swift said of his future in Philly. “If opportunity presents itself, we’ll see when we get there.”
Fletcher Cox seems like he’s destined for a new zip code in 2024. The six-time Pro Bowler finished with five sacks on 684 defensive snaps while serving as a mentor to the youngsters on the defensive line, guys like Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter. Cox removed virtually every item from his locker stall, prompting talk that he’s already moved on in his mind even as his words refused to reveal that.
“No, I haven’t thought about anything. I’m cleaning my locker out,” Cox said. “It’s a process. I feel like I can still play at a really high level and we’ll see. Turn the tape on. I feel like I dominated games and I took over games. And, number one, I was a good teammate — a good leader and I love being around the guys so it was definitely exciting.”
Jordan Davis: Creating ‘Diamonds Instead of Busted Pipes’
Jordan Davis arguably had the quote of the day when he said “we’re going to create diamonds instead of busted pipes” next season. The second-year defensive tackle looked a bit gassed down the stretch, with some nay-sayers blaming poor conditioning for his late-season struggles, and the 6-foot-6, 336-pounder didn’t shy away from the criticism.
“My body is beat, I can tell y’all that for sure,” Davis said. “It’s a long season, a long run, but at the end of the day, I know what it takes. I have to do even more, I mean my thing is just progression from year to year.”
Davis also seemed to confirm that Cox wouldn’t be back, expressing the need for maturity due to a lack of veteran leadership along the defensive line. He revealed it’s already been a topic of conversation between himself and Jalen Carter.
“That’s something me and Jalen [Carter] were talking about, is how we’re going to take care of this team and take care of the D-line because since Fletch is gone,” Davis said. “I think Milton Williams is the oldest player on our D-line so we’re a very young team, at least on the D-line — we’re very young but, at the end of the day, we can’t use that as a crutch. We can’t use that as an excuse. We can’t use Fletch as our security blanket, our backup, because he’s not there anymore. So, there’s definitely a lot of maturing that needs to go into this offseason.”
AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
