Sign Of Stability

PHILADELPHIA – In retrospect, Nick Sirianni’s five-year run as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Chargers proved to be a critical bullet-point on his coaching resume. It armed him with perspective, preparing him for his next rung of the NFL coaching ladder, for starters.

The five-year tenure also happened to cover the longest stretch that Sirianni had ever remained with one organization.

Until now, that is.

As fate would have it, Sirianni is entering his sixth season as Eagles head coach.

The 2026 season promises to offer the most significant changes of the Sirianni era, inviting both intrigue and apprehension. The offense, marred last season by inefficiency, is in the process of restoration. First-year coordinator Sean Mannion has been enlisted to modernize concepts and enhance some of what the Eagles have previously done well.

These adjustments are often accompanied by growing pains, but the anticipation is palpable. As the Eagles approach Year 6 under Sirianni, expectations remain high. But Sirianni isn’t of the belief that the heightened expectations will amplify pressure.

“I don’t think so,” he said last month when speaking with Eagles beat reporters. “Expectations have been high here for … I think you come off a ’22 season, and we did what we did. I think that that standard is what’s been expected, not only from the outside, [but] I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do it the way we play to a standard there.

“I think it’s about a mindset that you have in the sense of like, ‘Aww, expectations are high.’ Or ‘Hey, freaking expectations are high and it’s going to push us to become better because they’re so high.’ We all have wrestled with that. Like, ‘Hey, maybe that’s not fair that expectations are that high.’ Or, ‘Man, we’re going to become as good as we possibly can because the expectations are so high.’”

GETTY IMAGES: Eagles HC Nick Sirianni enters his sixth season, a sign of the stability he’s brought to the organization.

In addition to furnishing the organization with stability and consistency, many of the qualifications that Sirianni brings can’t be quantified in power rankings and similar offseason exercises. He preaches perfection when it comes to the things that require no talent, like attention to detail and ball security.

Beyond teaching and drilling fundamentals, Sirianni, 45, has had a profound impact on the Eagles’ organization as a culture-setter.

He subscribes to five core values – connect, compete, accountability, fundamentals, football IQ – that are reflected daily in some capacity. Those buzzwords shouldn’t be interpreted as coach speak; Sirianni leads from the front.

In a front-facing profession conducive to revealing phonies, Sirianni is unapologetically himself. The authenticity resonates with players, further strengthening the connection and relatability piece. What you see is what you get, circumstances notwithstanding.

The emotion, at times uncontrolled on game day, is merely a byproduct of his devotion to his craft. On the practice field, Sirianni conveys an urgency and fire that promotes healthy competition.

Sirianni is the same person at this stage of his career that he was as a first-year head coach. But that’s not to suggest that Sirianni will remain stagnant in his approach. He has always demonstrated a willingness to grow, whether networking with some of the most prolific coaches in sports for a different point of view or, more recently, turning to an unlikely source to ensure his messaging remains fresh, which can be an understated challenge six years in.

“I’m actually really enjoying … I’ve never thought I would use ChatGP whatever it’s called,” he said, referring to internet AI tool Chat GPT. “And I’m using that. Like, I just typed something in today. I’m like, give me a great, relentless effort. And I always have to preference that, like, ‘True sports story.’ Because sometimes you get, I’m like, ‘Well, this is an interesting story.’

“But I look up this thing today about this wrestler from the University of Arizona State in 2011 that won a national championship – oh…he was missing a leg. And I’m like, now I’m doing this research on it, and I’m looking at it. And like, I love reading about those types of things.

“But my point is, like, all right, you do that to try to keep things fresh. But then you also like, man, I’m not sure they remember the story of the 1952 Olympics, where the guy trained so hard. Emile Zutepeg was trained so hard that he was ready to run the marathon when he was at 15 or whatever. And so, now you’re coming back to some of those stories because it’s been a while since you said it, but you’re always constantly trying to keep it fresh.

“But I think when you’re basing all your talking points, when you have some stories here and there and you’re basing your talking points on what their habits are and what they’re showing on film, that’s always going to be fresh, right? You know, I told a story about Franco Harris that Tony Dungy told us, and I said this is our first year [in 2021], he was always running to the ball. So basically, what Dungy said was like the act in itself that he caught the Immaculate Reception, that may have been lucky, but his habit of being around the football and being there at the right place at the right time was not lucky because that’s who he was, his habits.

“Well, now I’m thinking about that, and you see the more you’re here, it’s like, ‘Well, that’s Tank Bigsby. He is constantly running to the football. He is constantly doing everything he’s supposed to do.’ And I’m like, you know what, guys? And I was able to hit back the story. I go, ‘Some of you guys remember the Franco Harris story.’ I’m like, ‘This is Tank,’ and you’re able to show that now.

“So, what my point, I guess what I’m saying is there is like now some of them, and some of your coaching points, are guys that have been here because you’ve been here so long that it’s like we’ve created stories. We’ve created, you know, things that people are looking up on Chat – you guys fill me in on how the letters go after that – but we have our own stories that we’ve created here, and man, like what keeps it more fresh than what we’ve done? You know what I’m saying?

“Like, I look at some of the pictures of my kids and you really can see the change of them. You know, I have more gray, and I look a little bit more heavy than I was when I first got here, but seeing how my kids have grown here is kind of cool, you know? And, yeah, so it’s a blessing to be at a place for so long in the NFL and look forward to continuing that for years to come.”

Since becoming the Eagles’ head coach, Sirianni has accumulated a career winning percentage that places him among the game’s most legendary coaching figures, including John Madden and Vince Lombardi.

Under Sirianni, the Eagles have attained a level of consistency that most teams aspire to emulate. The Eagles have won 59 of 85 regular season games over his five-year tenure and have annually qualified for postseason play. The Eagles have also reached the Super Bowl twice with Sirianni at the helm, compiling a 1-1 record. And as Sirianni will tell you, everything on the field is his responsibility.

Still, success be damned, Sirianni is viewed as a polarizing figure in some pockets. The on-field intensity – conveyed in a brash, in-your-face demeanor – surely contributes to the chatter. There’s also the non-play-calling bias that seemingly won’t subside.

While it’s fair to point out that the revolving door at offensive coordinator impacts continuity, it’s also worth noting that there are more than a handful of successful CEO coaches around the NFL, with Sirianni topping the list.

The sustained success under Sirianni doesn’t happen by accident, and it would be egregious to measure credibility solely off Xs and Os. But Sirianni doesn’t concern himself with outside perception. For the Eagles’ head coach, that would be perceived as an unproductive use of time. A futile endeavor.

Instead, Sirianni chooses to double-down on what he deems most important to winning and fielding the best possible product. And if he’s consistent in his daily habits and core beliefs, history indicates the results will follow.

GETTY IMAGES: Nick Sirianni is always looking for new ways and new stories to convey his messages, even recently using Chat GPT.

“I can’t control what anyone thinks or feels,” he said. “That’s OK. I think, sometimes, if I get wrapped up into the wrong things – ‘Hey, the appreciation for us should be higher’ – that  doesn’t really matter, you know? And even if a second of my time is being worried about, ‘Hey, I wish they appreciated this more,’ then I just lost a little bit of time that I could have been doing with something else that really matters.

“There’s always going to be noise. It’s like, what does it help you to focus on that? And it really doesn’t. I’m not saying we’ve been perfect at that. And I’m not saying that I’ve been perfect at that because we’re human, and we haven’t. But I think there’s growth in finding yourself through the journey that you’ve gone through to get to a point where like, yeah, should we be appreciated more? I don’t know. That’s out of my control.

“So, what is in my control? The daily habits that we go about to put the best product that we can on the field to ultimately do the best things that we can do. And we’ve done a good job. And we want to continue to do a good job in that. So, it’s all part of the journey of becoming who you are.”

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com