January 21, 2024
The Philadelphia Eagles have fired defensive coordinator Sean Desai, a source confirmed to PhillyVoice on Sunday night. The news was originally reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Sources: #Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has let go defensive coordinator Sean Desai, who lost play-calling duties late in the season.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 21, 2024
Desai is likely to be in the mix for other DC opportunities.
The Eagles were 10-3 at the time they replaced Desai. They went 1-4 under Patricia, with three of those losses coming against teams that did not make the playoffs, as the defense substantially worsened.
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.
Just because Desai is the only name to emerge among the Eagles' firings so far doesn't mean that more aren't coming, notably Patricia. Pro insight: Desai's agent leaked this news to Rapoport, or it wouldn't say, "Desai is likely to be in the mix for other DC opportunities." In other words, this news did not come from the team. More heads will roll.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Eagles are in line to receive a pair of third-round picks should offensive coordinator Brian Johnson land a head coaching job elsewhere. He has reportedly landed interviews with the Titans, Panthers, and Falcons. If the Eagles fire Johnson, they will not do so until he has struck out on all head coaching opportunities.
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