March 27, 2024
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie held his annual "State of the Eagles" address, so to speak, at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando on Tuesday. We trimmed some of his quotes for brevity's sake, but if you're interested in watching the media session in full, you may do so here:
Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie speaks with the media at the NFL Annual League Meeting. https://t.co/aytfW9iXMp
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) March 26, 2024
Here were my seven biggest takeaways.
"We go through a very intensive process after every single season," Lurie said. "This season was no different. Extremely disappointing ending to the season, the last five or six games, extremely disappointing to me. Very frustrating, for all of us...
"I listened to players, I listened to the coaches, I listened to our personnel people, and once one can assess and meet with Howie, with Nick, go through a lot of details, and a lot of plans and a lot of philosophies, it was very easy to be very encouraged with where we're at and where we're going forward. It was extremely impressive meeting with Nick and with Howie on our plans both with our roster development and player development, execution, every aspect of coaching.
"It was a very straightforward decision based on a very straightforward process.
"I expect to always be a championship caliber team than also looks toward the mid-range and the future at the same time...
"I do know that until we hit that streak of not playing well at the end of the year, we were 31-7 in the previous regular season games. To say the least, that's exceptional. And that starts with taking a team that was a four-win season in our final year with Doug Pederson, and taking it right in to a playoff team right away, and then into the Super Bowl, and then into a 10-1 beginning of this past season. A very disappointing ending, but I don't take lightly 31-7 in the National Football League. That's extraordinary.
"The ingredients that I've always seen with Nick are very obvious. The ability to connect, the ability to be authentic, incredible work ethic, high football IQ. All the reasons he was hired in the first place have almost been magnified in the first three years because they've been extremely successful. And yet, that doesn't ever take away from the hard look at the disappointment and the frustration as it ended, so I don't mean to diminish that in the slightest, because I don't. I lived that, and I care."
#JimmySays: Lurie more or less laid out the key pros and cons that fans and media debated about retaining or firing Sirianni. And certainly, because he ultimately chose to keep Sirianni aboard, his messaging was going to be mostly positive.
"Very proactive," Lurie said, "Wanting to truly improve the ingredients of the offense, truly improve who was leading the offense and the direction it would go, wanted to be much more innovative, much more dynamic, of course bring the things that brought us a lot of success but also very open to finding the best possible offensive coordinator and the same with defensive coordinator.
"He's an offensive head coach more, but he recognized that Vic Fangio would be an outstanding defensive coordinator for us. We talked about his systems for years and all the people that he developed, and now we have the guy who kind of fathered a certain approach to defense.
"Nick's conscious desire to have top-notch coordinators under him really drove a lot of the strategy, and he was hellbent on making sure we had the best.
"Highly encouraged by both the analysis of where we're at, no excuses, basically a fundamental understanding of what needs to be better than the last five or six games of the season."
#JimmySays: Lurie also mentioned later in the press conference that Sirianni's first choice at offensive coordinator was Kellen Moore.
My key takeaway was Lurie's comment that Sirianni did not make excuses for the team's epic collapse.
"Every coach is in a high pressure situation," Lurie said. "Nick has had a pretty spectacular first three seasons and he has shown all the ingredients to having outstanding success, so I'm just looking forward. There's no coach that's not feeling pressure to perform. That's the way it is in the National Football League."
#JimmySays: Lurie acknowledged that there was a decision to be made on whether he was retained or not, so yes, quite clearly he's on the hot seat.
"We're always looking for inefficiencies in the marketplace," Lurie said. "If we think the league is overvaluing a position or undervaluing a position, we will try our best — not always capable — of taking advantage of those inefficiencies. That's important as you're trying to maximize the salary cap and how you allocate resources within a defined space.
"I think with Saquon, one of the things we always talk about — whether it was LeSean McCoy, Brian Westbrook — is the value of the running back is not even the title 'running back.' You have to be a great passing attack running back as well. For us it has to be multi-functional, and he exhibited a very special skill set, both in the running and passing game that we think can be maximized by being on a team with better skill position players, quarterback, offensive line."
#JimmySays: On Monday, Roseman said that the Eagles view Barkley as a "special" player, and Lurie echoed those sentiments here.
Also, I don't think Lurie intended to take a shot at the Giants' crappy offense, but he did, lol.
Sirianni has drawn criticism for being too demonstrative on the sidelines, and some have questioned if Hurts isn't demonstrative enough. First, Hurts:
"Jalen is 25 years old, incredible last few years, disappointing ending last year as a team. I want Jalen to be authentic, and that's what he is. It's the worst thing to be 24, 25, and try to be something [that you're not]. Be authentic as he is.
"There are times for the stoicism. When we were 10-1, people said, 'It's because of Jalen's stoicism and calm under the storm that we were 10-1 in all of those close games. And then we lose a few, and it was, 'Maybe he should be more demonstrative,' or whatever.
"I love the way Jalen is. I think he has his own style. Every quarterback goes through ebbs and flows in their career. There were so many ups and then we had difficult five or six games at the end of the year... He's really respected for being who he is. You have a 25-year-old player. I think you want to reinforce who they are, not try to mold them into something they're not. He's an exceptional leader."
And Sirianni:
"One of the aspects that makes Nick really good is that he's authentic. He doesn't hold back. That also can be a negative at times. On the sideline you don't want to infuriate the referees... But I love his passion. I think that he realizes that it can be a little counterproductive if he overdoes his own passion, but you don't want to stop where that passion is coming from. So you have to find a sweet spot."
#JimmySays: I think there are good arguments for wanting your quarterback to have more of an outgoing personality. However, Lurie is dead on that you can't force it. The worst thing you can do is try to be something that you're not, because teammates will see right through that.
For better or worse — Lurie believes "for better" — Hurts just is who he is, and trying to change him isn't productive.
"I'm hopeful [that he'll be reinstated by the league soon]," Lurie said. "He's a key part in our planning going forward. It was a smart move by Howie to acquire Isaiah. Very optimistic that he'll be fully onboard very soon."
#JimmySays: In case you're unfamiliar with who Isaiah Rodgers is, you can catch up here.
In my opinion, the Eagles are still on the hunt for a starting corner, whether that's via trade or the draft, but Rodgers is sort of a wildcard in the mix who could pay dividends if he can be the player for the Eagles in 2024 that he was for the Colts in 2022.
"I don't have a way of knowing if everything we're doing is top notch, and anyone who knows me knows that I want to have a culture that is outstanding in every single way and nothing ever gets in the way of that," Lurie said. "So if I ever learn about something that's not top tier in the National Football League, I'd like to take action right away. I look forward to those player polls and we take action on them. It's helpful."
#JimmySays: In the NFLPA player poll a year ago, the Eagles finish 14th overall. They finished 4th overall in this year's poll.
One area where the the Eagles scored poorly last year and sought to make improvements was travel. On road games, for example, they now charter two planes, so that players can have their own row to themselves to stretch out.
Lurie deserves some credit here for recognizing an area where players weren't happy, and tried to make improvements.
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