Less than a week from their heartbreaking Super Bowl loss, the Philadelphia Eagles have already lost their offensive and defensive coordinators. As expected after a team makes a run as dominant as the Eagles, their coordinators quickly made it to the top of other teams’ lists to fill their head coaching vacancies. We will break down where the coordinators ended up, who the Eagles should consider replacing them with, and if the Eagles will be able to perform the same next year without their old coordinators.
Offensive Coordinator
The Eagles had an incredible year in 2022 on the offensive side of the ball. Quarterback Jalen Hurts made an enormous jump and became an MVP caliber player with the addition of A.J. Brown to the team. Along with this, Miles Sanders had a career revitalizing year under Shane Steichen’s offensive scheme. Steichen was named the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. There likely will not be too much pressure on Steichen to win early on in Indianapolis. They are a team that is looking to rebuild their roster, and that likely means acquiring their new franchise quarterback. Whether they do that in free agency, the draft, or through a trade, Steichen’s biggest task will be molding and developing this new quarterback to lead the Colts into a new era.
It will be very difficult to replace an offensive mind like Steichen’s, however, it is something that the Eagles will have to do this offseason. One name at the top of their list should be Brian Johnson. Johnson is the current quarterback coach of the Eagles. Giving him this promotion would give the reigns of the offensive playcalling to Hurts’ right hand man. After the season the two had together, there is no reason why this move should not be made.
Defensive Coordinator
Paired with their elite offense, Philadelphia also had arguably the top defense in the NFL last season, coached by Jonathan Gannon. Gannon was recently signed to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals heading into the 2023 season. This will be a very tough situation for Gannon where there will be some more pressure on him to win early when compared to Steichen on the Colts. Despite this, he comes into a situation with a roster that is much more ready to contend.
Gannon will be another very tough to replace coach, however, the Eagles could once again keep their hiring in house and promote Dennard Wilson to the coordinator job. He currently serves as the team’s defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach. Wilson’s a hit in the locker room, and a signing that would go over especially well with the players. Along with this, the secondary has thrived with him at the helm.
Will the Team Be the Same Next Season?
As previously mentioned, to a certain degree, there is no replacing a truly elite coordinator on either side of the ball. Despite this, the Philadelphia Eagles have an incredible set of positional coaches within their organization that are more than capable of filling the vacancies at offensive and defensive coordinator and lead this team back to a deep playoff run.
