10 key questions for Sirianni and Roseman at end-of-year presser

The Eagles put out word this week that head coach Nick Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman will hold their end-of-year press conferences on Wednesday.

There are plenty of questions for the duo.

After the Eagles’ collapse down the stretch in the 2023 season, it appears that Sirianni will return for his fourth season at the helm but it also appears there will be some other sweeping changes to the rest of the coaching staff.

Here are 10 key questions Sirianni and Roseman could face on Wednesday:

1. What is the plan at defensive coordinator? Looking for a type?

The Eagles fired Sean Desai this week in a move that wasn’t a surprise, mostly because that basically already happened last month. And the Eagles are also just letting Matt Patricia walk on an expiring contract; again, no surprise.

But now they have a vacancy to fill and that process has already begun. The first two reported interviews for this job are going to Ron Rivera and Mike Caldwell. It appears the Eagles might have a type. 

It would make plenty of sense if the Eagles want to go for an experienced defensive coordinator candidate to create some stability on that side of the football after a turbulent season in 2023. Guys like Rivera or Leslie Frazier, who have been DCs and head coaches in the NFL, would certainly fit that mold. Former coordinators like Caldwell, Ejiro Evero and perhaps even Wink Martindale have plenty of experience too. The Eagles went the more inexperienced route with Desai and bailed on him during the season so they might change course this time around. What kind of candidate will they look to bring aboard?

This hire shouldn’t just be about scheme either. Good teams don’t just chase scheme. It has to be about finding a coach who has a basic defensive philosophy that he’s willing to mold to personnel. He also has to be someone the players trust will put them in better positions.

2. What's the plan to replace Brian Johnson?

While the Eagles’ defense was horrendous — especially down the stretch — the Eagles’ offense was perhaps just as disappointing, especially considering the expectations. The big change from the 2022 season was that after Shane Steichen left for the head coaching gig in Indy, he was replaced by Brian Johnson, who had been QBs coach.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Johnson will not be returning in 2024. So how will the Eagles replace him? And are they looking for a different type of candidate on this side of the ball than on defense?

The offensive struggles this season clearly weren't all on Johnson, although he was a part of it.

But it was clear something just wasn’t right between Sirianni, Johnson and Jalen Hurts during the 2023 season. And of those three, Johnson is the guy who won't be back. This is a really important job in Philly because Sirianni gave up play-calling during the 2021 season and he really likes the idea of having his OC call plays because it theoretically frees him up on game day. That’s a draw for potential candidates but it’s also fair to wonder if Johnson felt handcuffed by calling plays in an offense that wasn’t his.

3. How willing will Sirianni be to alter offensive structure?

To me, this is perhaps the most important question for Sirianni. Because the Eagles’ offense looked stale for most of the 2023 season and it appeared to extend well beyond the play-caller. Sure, they were a top 10 unit but they were far from elite. And they should be elite. 

There were structural issues with this offense last season that aren’t easily fixed by a switch at the offensive coordinator position.

Sirianni is proud of his offense and he thinks it’s one of the main reasons Jeffrey Lurie hired him in 2021 and that’s partially true. But the version of the Eagles’ offense we saw in 2023 under Sirianni was uninventive, unimaginative and stagnant for huge portions of the season. It relied too heavily on wins from star players instead of helping to find layups for Hurts.

So even if Johnson isn’t back next season, there’s no guarantee the structure of the offense changes. Is Sirianni going to budge? Will he use more motion? Will he find ways to better utilize the middle of the field? Will he ever put Hurts under center? Will he ever use more uneven formations? If you watched the divisional round playoff games this past weekend, you saw a lot of fun and cutting-edge offensive ideas and mechanisms and it’s fair to wonder if the Eagles will have the ability to find ways to push their offense forward with Sirianni. Or is he doubling down and hoping a simple change at the play-caller position will fix all their woes?

4. Has this season changed the team’s positional view on linebackers?

Again, if you watched the divisional round this weekend, you saw a bunch of linebackers making game-changing plays. And if you watched the Eagles this season, you saw one guy who didn’t make the 53-man roster and another guy who signed in August. The Eagles will tell you they used a third-round pick on Nakobe Dean a couple years ago and that is a significant resource at the position for them. But they put all their eggs in the Dean basket and he missed most of the season with injuries.

The only real offseason pickup at the position was when they signed Nicholas Morrow to a veteran minimum deal in March and then signed Ben VanSumeren after the draft. Then they signed a couple of lottery tickets in Zach Cunningham and Myles Jack on Aug. 6. Cunningham ended up being their best linebacker in 2023, which is a problem. Heck, the Eagles even waived a young linebacker under contract in Christian Elliss to create a roster spot and foolishly lost him on waivers.

For the most part, the Eagles’ philosophy at linebacker is understood. This team builds through the trenches and it’s a philosophy that has served them well. But they took it to a new extreme in 2023 and it burned them. Maybe that’s enough to wake up Roseman a bit.

5. How much blame should Roseman take for the disappointing season?

The Eagles on offense returned 9 of 11 starters from last season. Hard to fault Roseman for the personnel on that side of the ball. But on defense, the Eagles lacked talent at some key positions. We already talked about linebacker but the Eagles’ decisions to bring in Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans didn’t work at safety. Then Roseman traded for Kevin Byard in another move that didn’t work.

At cornerback, Roseman used a huge chunk of the Eagles’ cap to extend two 30+ cornerbacks in Darius Slay and James Bradberry. While Slay was fine this season, Bradberry’s play fell off a cliff to the point where he saw his snaps get slashed in the playoff game. While Roseman seemed to nail the Jalen Carter pick, Nolan Smith barely played as a rookie and the Eagles didn’t get a ton of contributions from this rookie class until late in the season. And last year’s first-round pick, Jordan Davis, really fell off in the second half of the year too.

The Eagles were a mess on defense for a lot of this season and the coaching wasn’t good. But the personnel wasn’t good either. And that has to be partially on the GM.

6. What’s the plan to maximize Jalen Hurts and talent on offense?

The Eagles’ biggest problem on offense this season was not Hurts. But it’s also fair to point out that he didn’t have the best season and seemed out of sync in the offense plenty of times. It’s unclear if that was the scheme or play-calling or both. And it’s a bit more anecdotal but Hurts just didn’t look at comfortable in the Eagles’ offense in 2023 as he did the previous year. He also wasn’t utilized as a runner nearly as much; that’s understandable but it did change the offense.

There’s no question the Eagles have a ton of talent on offense. Even without knowing about the future of a couple key players, they still have a very good offensive line, two stud receivers and a top tight end, but the most important thing going forward is doing whatever they can to support Hurts and get the most out of their franchise quarterback.

7. What led to the collapse this season?

There’s clearly more than one answer but now that the Eagles are over a week removed from the season-ending loss in Tampa … what the heck happened? This was a team that was 10-1 and somehow lost six of its last seven games and completely collapsed down the stretch. If Sirianni doesn’t know what happened, how can the Eagles trust him to make sure it doesn’t’ happen again?

With the benefit of time, I’m curious to see what answers Sirianni has about the meltdown. And it can’t be that the other team gets paid too. That’s simply not good enough. The Eagles were far too talented to lose to teams like the Cardinals and Giants down the stretch.

8. Why are you confident in a head coach that couldn’t stop the slide?

This is more of a question for Roseman in this setting. (Really, it’s a question for Lurie but we don’t expect to speak to him until the owners meetings in March. He’ll be asked plenty about Sirianni then.) Aside from Lurie, though, the top decision-maker in the Eagles’ organization is Roseman, who has outlasted several coaches before and will very likely still be here whenever Sirianni’s end eventually comes. So it’s fair to ask super high level questions to a general manager with the kind of staying power Roseman seems to have.

In his past, Roseman earned a reputation as being someone who is difficult to work with but he has put in the work to shed this label. And for the most part, it has seemed like he and Sirianni have a strong relationship. Of course, this season presented the most significant adversity the duo has faced together. It’s also fair to wonder if Sirianni is starting to outgrow the oversight from the front office. That’s sort of what happened with Doug Pederson years back. When the Eagles hired him, Pederson was a guy who didn’t have a ton of suitors and didn’t have much cachet. Of course, then he won the Super Bowl and earned that. Sirianni hasn’t won a Super Bowl but he did get there and has been a successful coach.

9. Who really demoted Sean Desai during the season?

We’re not going to get a straight answer on this. Sirianni has already said publicly that it was his decision but it obviously seems very unlikely Sirianni acted alone. Even if it was his choice to demote Desai and hand over power to Patricia, he didn’t do it without front office approval. This is too big of a decision.

But making this move in Week 15 is how the 2023 season will be remembered. In 20 years, when we talk about this disaster of a season, we’ll be saying, “Remember that time the Eagles handed over power to Matt Patricia during the season? Matt Patricia!?” It’s not like the Eagles’ defense was very good before the switch but at least it had some really good moments. After the switch? It was an abject disaster.

10. Did you see enough development from younger players in 2023?

Another very important part of coaching is the development of young talent. In 2022, the Eagles seemed to get career seasons from so many key players. But in 2023, not only did we see some regression but we also didn’t see the level of development you’d expect. In fact, several young players got worse as the season went on. Just think about it: Who really got better in 2023?

This element makes you wonder about some of the position coaches on the staff. The Eagles are already expected to change coordinators and it’s not a stretch to think several of the position coach spots will be turned over as well. The only guy who should absolutely be safe is offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. He’s earned that.

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