To say that this has been a quiet offseason for the Eagles would be a complete lie. From the fireworks that started the moment that they lost to the Buccaneers to the bright lights that shined on the team when they landed both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. Somewhere in between all of that landed the big news of the Eagles finally landing their coveted defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio.
To say Vic’s departure from Miami was a sad one would be a complete lie according to several players that were happy to see him go. Jevon Holland posted a tweet of him kicking rocks when the veteran coordinator departed Miami. In other words, he was telling Fangio to kick rocks. Pretty mature if you ask me.
Many factors could’ve played into the Dolphins’ secondary being unhappy with Fangio. He’s an old-school coach who actually coaches his players. He believes in the scheme and unit as opposed to relying on one or two-star players to fill up the stat sheet. Which is going to be great for Eagles fans and players.
Holland didn’t leave it there. He continued to throw jabs at his former coordinator when asked what is it like playing for new coordinator Anthony Weaver this year. Holland stated, “a complete 180, actually.” He mentioned that Weaver is “super dope, as a person, as an ex-player, as a coach. You just feel he understands where we’re coming from, wants to hear us in our input on the defense, and is able to put that into how the defense is called and how the defense is taught. He’s great. He’s a really solid dude.”
When asked about the difference between Fangio and Weaver, Holland didn’t hesitate to shoot his shot. He stated, “I just think that it’s the fact that he’s a good person that makes the difference.” You have to appreciate the honesty but Sonny Weaver once told Vontae Mack how much GMs hate the Twitter takes. Salute to all of my draft day fans out there.
While those lines could create skepticism within the Eagles fanbase, I’m here to tell you that you have nothing to worry about. Miami is all sunshine and rainbows whether they win or lose. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is all about hard work. It’s a tough city that few can strive in and fortunately enough, Vic Fangio will be part of the selected few.
Don’t believe it? Then you can hear it from Jalen Carter himself. When speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Carter was asked what he thought about the new Eagles defensive coordinator. His first response was, “I love Vic, man. Old school, he’s fun to talk to. He’s a good coach. I heard a lot of good news about him. Cause I was in Miami working out, so I had a couple of Miami players out there. I was talking to them so I heard a lot of good news and they said a lot of good stuff.”
Interesting. The Eagles’ 23-year-old star defensive tackle is excited to play with the hard-coaching veteran coordinator. If you ask me, the big difference between the two perspectives besides ego is culture. The Eagles have one of the more respected cultures in the league while Miami’s could be completely different. You saw it at the end of last season when the media was screaming for Nick Sirianni to be fired, the players came to his defense instead which spoke volumes to the Eagles brass.
While the jury is still out on how the Eagles’ defense will be for the 2024 season, the early buy-in from the team’s leading defenders should be nothing short of a good sign going forward. It may create the competitive pride that fans have been wanting out of their defense for some time.
How do you feel about the Eagles hiring Vic Fangio?
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
