The Unique Challenge Nick Sirianni Faces in Rebuilding Eagles' Coaching Staff

The unique challenge Sirianni faces in rebuilding Eagles' staff originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Andy Reid’s initial Eagles staff included seven future NFL head coaches, and there’s no question that group had a lot to do with the Eagles’ remarkable success in Reid’s first six years here.

During that period, the Eagles shared the best record in the NFL with the Rams at 64-32, reached the playoffs five straight times, played in four straight NFC Championship Games and got to their first Super Bowl in nearly a quarter of a century.

Eventually, that brilliant coaching staff began falling apart. By 2007, he had lost Leslie Frazier, Ron Rivera, Pat Shurmur, Brad Childress, Steve Spagnuolo and John Harbaugh, who all became NFL head coaches.

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But after he put together that initial staff, Reid didn’t hire another future head coach for 13 years, until he brought in Todd Bowles before his final season in 2012. And Reid's inability to adequately replace the guys on his initial staff caught up to him.

When you’re replacing John Harbaugh with Rory Segrest, something is wrong.

From 2005 through 2012 – Reid's last eight seasons here - the Eagles were a middle-of-the-pack team. After winning two-thirds of their games from 1999 through 2004, they went 66-61-1 in Reid’s final eight seasons and reached just one conference title game.

There are a lot of reasons the Eagles’ success from 2000 through 2004 didn’t continue. But there’s no question that Reid’s failure to replenish his coaching staff with quality replacements was a big one. 

To a much lesser degree, Doug Pederson experienced the same thing. After the 2017 Super Bowl season, he replaced Frank Reich with WRs coach Mike Groh and replaced Groh with Gunter Brewer, then a year later replaced Brewer with Carson Walch and we all know how all that went.

You see where we’re going here.

This is a pivotal time for Nick Sirianni, who like Reid and Pederson enjoyed tremendous success and went to a Super Bowl with his original staff and now faces the challenge of maintaining that success with a drastically different coaching staff.

And don’t underestimate the importance of a strong staff. The assistants are the guys doing the teaching. They’re the guys spending the most hands-on time with the players in meeting rooms and the practice field. They're the guys bringing fresh ideas and concepts to the head coach. You don’t have success like the Eagles did this past season without tremendous teachers and communicators working in sync with the head coach and the players.

Back in June, I wrote about the value of Sirianni returning his entire staff in 2022 with everyone in the same roles.

It obviously paid off.

This year?

So far the Eagles have lost five coaches - Shane Steichen, Jonathan Gannon, Nick Rallis, Dennard Wilson and Joe Kasper - and that’s a lot. And whatever you think of Gannon, he is a very good coach, and the Eagles have now lost four of eight coaches from the No. 2 defense in the NFL.

When you change a coach, the entire dynamic of that position changes. Not always in a bad way, of course. But there’s no question that if you don’t bring in the right guys, it can set your organization back significantly. We’ve seen it.

Multiply that by five coaches? And, yeah, it's not easy.

So far, Sirianni has replaced Sirianni internally with QBs coach Brian Johnson and replaced Johnson internally also with Alex Tanney. I’ve literally never heard one negative word about either one, but they are now in roles they’ve never filled. And for Johnson in particular, calling plays in the NFL will be a new challenge.

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On defense, a lot of unknowns remain. Sean Desai brings a terrific resume and is highly regarded around the league. The Eagles haven’t announced replacements for Rallis, the linebackers coach; Wilson, the secondary coach; or Kasper, a defensive assistant. But as of now the only defensive assistants on the staff are d-line coaches Tracy Rocker and Jeremiah Washburn, assistant secondary coach D.K. McDonald and defensive assistant Tyler Scudder.

So there’s still a lot of work to do. And every one of these decisions is tricky.

Sirianni knew when he hired Desai he’d lose Wilson. So you’re not just looking for the best coaches who fit the scheme you want to run but also figuring out what impact they’ll make on the rest of your staff. 

You have to consider potential personality conflicts. What coaches do these guys want to bring with them? Who do they want to get rid of? How well will they work with your other coaches and your GM? And in a market like Philly, how will they handle the inevitable criticism when things don’t go well?

That’s where Sirianni is right now.

Like all teams coming off a Super Bowl, the Eagles are facing a lot of challenges this offseason. Half the roster is unsigned. The quarterback needs a new contract. They’ll face a 1st-place schedule in 2023. 

Building the right staff of teachers, mentors and communicators is as important as anything.

We’ve seen the result when it doesn’t happen.