January 19, 2024
Now that the Philadelphia Eagles' 2023 season is over, we'll be taking a position-by-position look at which players will likely be back with the team in 2024, and which ones won't. But before we get to the players, we started with Nick Sirianni on Thursday. Today we'll put the coordinators under the microscope.
Desai's NFL career began with the Chicago Bears, where he worked his way up from a defensive quality control guy, to safeties coach, to defensive coordinator. During his nine seasons there, Desai survived the firings of head coaches Marc Trestman after the 2014 season and John Fox after 2017. He was promoted twice under Matt Nagy, and in his lone season as Chicago's defensive coordinator, the Bears finished sixth in yards allowed, 22nd in points allowed, and 13th in defensive DVOA. However, the Bears' offense finished 24th in yards, 27th in points, and were 26th in offensive DVOA, and Nagy was fired.
Desai was not retained, as the Bears hired a defensive-minded head coach in Matt Eberflus. He landed with the Seahawks as an associate head coach and defensive assistant in 2022, before landing the Eagles' defensive coordinator job in 2023.
Desai learned for four years under Vic Fangio, who was Chicago's defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2018, and who consulted for the Eagles in 2022. If the Eagles hadn't gone on a long playoff run, Fangio might have been the Eagles' defensive coordinator. Instead, Fangio was hired for that role by the Miami Dolphins while the Eagles were preparing to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. In Desai, they found a defensive coach who knew Fangio's scheme.
The Eagles seemed hellbent on employing a Fangio-style defense, which didn't go well for them or for any of the other coordinators around the league who are branches on the Fangio tree, like Joe Barry, Joe Woods, Jonathan Gannon, Brandon Staley, and Fangio himself.
Here's how those guys fared in defensive DVOA:
• Joe Woods, Saints: 15th
• Vic Fangio, Dolphins: 19th
• Brandon Staley, Chargers: 26th
• Joe Barry, Packers: 27th
• Sean Desai, Eagles: 29th
• Jonathan Gannon, Cardinals: 32nd
Offenses around the league figured out how to beat Fangio's style of defense and they punished it all season. Still, Desai had his moments as the Eagles' defensive coordinator, notably against playoff teams like the Buccaneers, Rams, Dolphins, and Chiefs.
However, after a three-game stretch against the Bills, 49ers, and Cowboys during which the Eagles allowed 109 points (36.3 per game) and 1,355 yards (451.7 per game), the Eagles decided they had seen enough and made a call to the bullpen for Matt Patricia.
#JimmyVerdict: You don't really need my verdict here. The Eagles already demoted Desai, and they sure as hell aren't going to now promote him back to defensive coordinator. Maybe he'll stay in some other role because they're already paying him, but that would only likely add to the dysfunction within the halls of the NovaCare Complex, so I imagine at some point they'll bite the bullet and cut bait completely. Go.
Your vote:
Patricia was the Patriots' defensive coordinator from 2012-2017, before landing a head coaching job with the Lions in 2018. He was fired in 2020, went back to the Patriots in a role on offense, and called plays on offense in 2022. He was relieved of those duties after a disastrous season, and landed with the Eagles as a "senior defensive assistant" in March of 2023.
As noted above, after the Eagles' three-game stretch against the Bills, 49ers, and Cowboys, the Eagles turned to Patricia to turn the defense around, but it only got worse, as players often didn't know how to line up or what their assignments were. Opposing offenses bulldozed them in the run game, and easily found ways to get receivers running wide open through the secondary.
A season ago, the Eagles faced virtually no adversity whatsoever, and their response to two bad losses was a drastic panic move at defensive coordinator that screamed "bad vibes" for a team that was 10-3 when they made the switch.
#JimmyVerdict: Fire Patricia into the sun. Go.
Your vote:
Johnson served as the Eagles' quarterbacks coach in 2021 and 2022, and under his tutelage Jalen Hurts became an MVP candidate. After Shane Steichen left to become the Colts' head coach, it was widely expected that Johnson would take his place, and when he did, the move was met with wide acceptance.
The Eagles' offensive DVOA ranking fell from 3rd in 2022 to 10th in 2023, despite fielding mostly the same cast of players. But worse than the advanced stats was the eye test. There was no mystery that opposing defenses were going to blitz the Eagles heavily, and yet the staff rarely had any basic, quick-hitting throws that could exploit opponents' over-aggressiveness. The absence of adjustments was staggering.
Anytime the offense struggled, the fan base (mostly) blamed Johnson, an easy target because he was the new face in the offense's brain trust, but it was hardly all on him. You could probably take your pick of where to lay the blame:
• Was it Nick Sirianni? It was his offense that the team was running.
• Was it Brian Johnson? He was calling the plays.
• Was it Jalen Hurts? He ran the offense on the field.
The answer to all three questions is "Yes." In Johnson's case, there's no question that he was a downgrade as a play caller from Steichen.
Interestingly, Johnson will reportedly be interviewing for the Falcons', Titans', and Panthers' head coaching vacancies.
In November of 2020, the NFL approved a proposal that rewards teams for developing minority coaches and front office executives who go on to become head coaches and general managers for other organizations. If a team loses a minority coach or executive to a head coach or general manager position with another team, they will receive a pair of third-round picks in return. They are called "Resolution JC-2A" picks, but function in a similar way to compensatory picks. Johnson is African-American, and would thus qualify as a minority candidate.
It's probably also worth noting here that teams have been accused in the past of interviewing minority candidates just to satisfy their "Rooney Rule" obligation. Every team with a head coaching vacancy is required to interview diverse candidates before making a new hire.
The Eagles will be rooting hard for Johnson to land a head coaching job, but that's probably a longshot.
#JimmyVerdict: If Johnson does not land a head coaching job, the bet here is that the Eagles will still go in another direction. Go.
Your vote:
Oh hey, a success story! The Eagles' special teams were a rare weakness for the 2022 Eagles, but they were the No. 1 unit in the NFL in 2023, by DVOA. If you're interested in reading more, we covered the Eagles' special teams improvements in a lot more depth a few months ago.
#JimmyVerdict: The Eagles stood by Clay, and he rewarded them with a great season. Stay.
Your vote:
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