The first domino has officially fallen. The loss to Tampa Bay last weekend brought with it a strange silence. The Eagles had let something really special slip away and there was always going to be an offseason of change as a result. Defensive Coordinator, Sean Desai, was let go by the team on Sunday evening, according to Ian Rapoport.
Eagles fire Sean Desai
It was a tale of two halves for Sean Desai, who replaced Jonathan Gannon as the teams’ defensive coordinator. He brought a Vic Fangio-style of defense to Philadelphia and some tremendous second-half adjustments in the opening few weeks of the year. But as injuries mounted and the bleeding started, Desai ran out of answers.
The Eagles ended the year with the 26th-ranked defense despite ranking 11th against the run. If that doesn’t highlight the glaring issues in the secondary, I don’t know what will. But it is worth noting that Sean Desai was actually replaced by Matt Patricia just weeks before the playoff. The move did absolutely nothing and, if anything, made things worse on defense. There has been no word on whether Patricia will be fired too or kept around the NovaCare Complex.
What next for the Eagles?
As for what happens next, it’s hard to say. A report came out earlier in the week stating that Nick Sirianni had a meeting with Jeffrey Lurie to discuss a blueprint for the future. As part of that conversation, Sirianni was afforded his job on the basis he part ways with both coordinators. Whether this is true or not, we don’t know, but it certainly doesn’t look like an outright lie now that Desai has been fired just days later.
It remains to be seen how many more moves will be made. Will the Eagles be able to part ways with both coordinators knowing that the issues should be fixed this offseason, or should they really be putting Nick Sirianni on the hot seat too?
All we know for now is that the Eagles aren’t hanging around when it comes to putting this right.
Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire
