Eagles Coach Ready to Get ‘Manipulated’ in Philly?

Howie Roseman

Getty Eagles GM Howie Roseman made the outside-the-box decision to hire Nick Sirianni as the next head coach in Philadelphia.

There are seven new head coaches in the National Football League this season. And, according to CBS Sports, Nick Sirianni is better than four of those first-year headset wearers.

That’s the good news. The bad is that their team of national writers has the Philadelphia Eagles leader ranked No. 27 out of 32 head coaches. The guys falling below Sirianni included David Culley (No. 32, Houston Texans), Dan Campbell (No. 31, Detroit Lions), Zac Taylor (No. 30, Cincinnati Bengals), Robert Saleh (No. 29, New York Jets), Urban Meyer (No. 28, Jacksonville Jaguars).

One of the reasons why Sirianni was ranked so low was due to what many viewed as an awkward introductory press conference. Here is what CBS Sports wrote:

Anyone who laughed at the puppy-dog nervousness of his early press conferences may say this is too high, but he was a prototypical hire for Jeffrey Lurie, whose track record of HC hires is strong. At 40, he brings youth and energy to an offense that got stale fast, plus three years of rock-solid OC work under Frank Reich. The bar is also relatively low despite the team just winning it all in 2017.

Fair points. Lurie has only hired five head coaches since buying the franchise in 1994: Ray Rhodes, Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, Nick Sirianni. Ironically, Reid was the top guy on CBS Sports’ list for the 2021 season and three former Eagles assistants rounded out the top five: John Harbaugh (No. 3, Baltimore Ravens), Sean Payton (No. 4, New Orleans Saints), Sean McDermott (No. 5, Buffalo Bills). Someone in the front office has an eye for coaching talent.

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Eagles Brass Ready to ‘Manipulate’ Sirianni?

The biggest takeaway from Doug Pederson leaving Philadelphia was that the former quarterback had reached his breaking point. He was tired of being micro-managed by general manager Howie Roseman and team owner Jeffrey Lurie.

Pederson never admitted that was the case, but there were multiple reports saying he was “sick of people telling him what to do.” He even threatened to quit on his own accord last September.

Fast forward and people are worried that Sirianni might get “manipulated” in Year 1. Long-time NFL reporter Jason Cole told Eagle Maven that the first-year coach better get ready to look over his shoulder. Sirianni probably won’t have the authority to make final decisions on certain things.

“Sirianni seems to me like a guy who’s gonna get run over by the owner and the GM,” Cole said. “[My concern] is that [Lurie and Roseman] are going to take control of the situation. They haven’t found the authority figure like an Andy Reid.”


Pederson Looking to Return to Coaching

Pederson decided to take a year away from football despite rumors that several teams were interested in hiring him for an offensive coordinator role. The 53-year-old has been content to remain in Florida and work on his golf game. For now. However, Pederson clued everyone into the fact he’s getting the itch to return.

“The competitor inside wants to continue to compete,” Pederson said, via NJ Advance Media. “Hopefully, I get an opportunity to lead another football team and do the same things again and learn from the last five years. What a great teaching moment for me.”

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