Eagles Twitter Reacts to Jonathan Gannon Possibly Leaving

Jonathan Gannon

Getty Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is being mentioned as a head-coaching candidate.

Jonathan Gannon keeps getting looks for head-coaching jobs around the NFL. The Houston Texans are interested in granting him a second interview while the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos just completed successful first rounds with Gannon. The Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator is very much a threat to leave the team this offseason.

According to Aaron Wilson, Gannon “knocked it out of the park” in all three of his interviews. There is a growing feeling among league insiders that the confident 39-year-old will get offered a job. Normally, this might cause outrage and disappointment among Eagles fans. But Gannon’s 2021 campaign was far from normal. There were calls to fire him after the first seven weeks. Especially after a falling out with his best defensive player.

But Gannon righted the ship after that incredibly disappointing start. Philadelphia finished 10th in overall defense: 328.8 yards per game (107.8 rushing, 220.9 passing). The Eagles ranked eighth-best in yards per play (5.2) and 18th-best in points allowed (22.6). However, the issues in the red zone were well-documented all year and the unit gave up 46 total touchdowns. It was certainly an up and down year.

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Eagles Twitter Happy to See Gannon Go

Despite a warning from one trusted Eagles reporter, the majority of diehard fans won’t lose any sleep over Gannon leaving town. They felt his “scheme-less” scheme was a tired act, one that often employed a soft Cover 2 shell and gave up huge chunks of yardage to opposing quarterbacks.

There are a plethora of top defensive coordinators available on the open market, too. Fired defensive-minded head coaches like Vic Fangio, Brian Flores, Mike Zimmer all jump to mind. The Eagles are also very high on their own defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson who Darius Slay hyped up for a defensive coordinator job. Some feel Gannon’s departure could actually be a blessing in disguise.


Nick Sirianni Backs Defensive Coordinator

Nick Sirianni would prefer to retain Gannon for the 2022 campaign, but he’s not going to block him from being a head coach. The Eagles head coach has known Gannon since 2018 when they worked together as assistants for the Indianapolis Colts. Their relationship is rock solid and Sirianni believes strongly in his friend’s ability to lead his own locker room.

“Obviously, I would never want to lose Coach Gannon, but I think he’s more than ready to be a head football coach and he has all the qualities that you need,” Sirianni told reporters on January 14. “I have so much confidence in him and so much faith in him, and I believe in him in the job that he can do as a football coach. I think he’d be a great head football coach in the NFL.”

Gannon has already been given the green light to puruse head-coaching opportunites from the Eagles’ front office. Stay tuned.

“I’ll sit down with Howie [Roseman] and Nick [Sirianni] and we’ll talk about that when the time comes,” Gannon said.

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