‘Autonomy’

Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles will get a second chance to make good coordinator hires on both sides of the ball following a disastrous end to 2023.

On the latest episode of “Inside The Birds,” Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher discussed the vacant coordinator jobs and how they would fit within the current team structure.

GETTY IMAGES: The biggest question in the Eagles’ offensive coordinator search will be Nick Sirianni’s role.

Brian Johnson

Adam Caplan: “I feel bad for Brian Johnson in one way: word leaked out that they were looking, they should have let the guy go last week.”

Geoff Mosher: “If the Eagles could have gotten compensation for Brian Johnson getting a [head coaching] job somewhere, they are going to want draft compensation.”

Jim Bob Cooter

Mosher: “A lot of the first names you see in the interview cycle are because they are available at the moment or working for a team not in the playoffs so it’s easier to get those guys in the building. It’s tougher if you want to speak to someone on the 49ers. I have tried to talk to some people who have worked with Jim Bob Cooter, people think he is a very smart guy but nobody banged the table for him as an offensive mastermind.”

Jalen Hurts

Caplan: “As a league source told me: if you are running a true west coast [offense], go through every true west coast coach and see how many guys are running their quarterbacks. In an old school west coast offense, it is about timing, rhythm, getting the ball out. So what are you really doing with Jalen? When Jalen was special in 2022, it was about starting with him in the run game.” 

Nick Sirianni

Mosher: “The autonomy part of this offense has to be a big question. How much is Nick willing to give to the playcaller and how much will that playcaller take that as he can do what he wants? Nick may say the right things, but there might be some reluctance for the guy sitting in the other chair…Everybody would love to think the only problem was Brian was not a good playcaller. If that were the case, they would just put Kevin Patullo there and say they are fine, but they are not doing that, they are bringing somebody in. You don’t do that unless you plan that this guy has certain autonomy.”

Defense

Caplan: “You are going to want to make sure if the coordinator wants to bring in some of his own guys that he can do that…you want to give him the ability to bring his own coaches. Howie (Roseman) and Nick have to give him the autonomy to run the kind of scheme he wants.”

Mosher: “This time around, we will see if the organization confronts some of its challenges with their hirings or if they just say to hire a veteran defensive coordinator who has coaches in mind that they know of and heard of and let that person reshape the staff. History says that is not always the case because the head coach and GM get involved and bring in guys too.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.