The Eagles have turned to their biggest rival to fill their offensive coordinator vacancy.
Kellen Moore, who coached the Cowboys to three top-6 offensive rankings in four years in Dallas, will be the Eagles’ new offensive coordinator, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday evening.
Moore replaces Brian Johnson, who was fired after three years with the Eagles, this past season as offensive coordinator. Moore will be the Eagles’ third offensive coordinator in three years.
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Moore spent the last year with the Chargers as OC under Brandon Staley, who was fired last month and replaced by former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
Nick Sirianni said on Wednesday that whoever he brings in as offensive coordinator will bring in his own scheme and structure as opposed to calling plays within Sirianni’s offense.
“We're bringing in a guy to bring in new ideas, to do the things that he's done in the past,” he said Wednesday. “It'd be crazy not to add some of the things that we've done in the past here, as well. …
“We're working on getting the best guy in here for the job and a guy who has a vision, a guy who's going to call the plays, a guy who's going to be able to coach a quarterback. … So it's just about getting the right guy and then we'll decide where that goes. But I'm hiring him to do a job and to be in charge of the offense.”
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The Eagles did finish seventh in the NFL in scoring this past season, but the offense grew stale and predictable as the year went on. They scored fewer than 20 points in five of their last seven games, and in their wild-card loss in Tampa, the Eagles scored just nine points.
Moore, 35, spent parts of six seasons as a backup quarterback with the Lions (2012-14) and Cowboys (2015-17) before starting his coaching career in 2018 as the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach. After one year, he was promoted to offensive coordinator and held that position from 2019 through 2022.
The Cowboys were ranked 6th, 17th, 1st and 4th in Moore’s four years running the offense, the first year under Jason Garrett and three under Mike McCarthy. Curiously, both Johnson and Moore coached Dak Prescott – Johnson at Mississippi State and Moore with the Cowboys.
After the Cowboys lost to the 49ers 19-12 in a conference semifinal game in Santa Clara last year, the Cowboys and Moore parted ways. A day later, he was hired by the Chargers, and in his one season in L.A. the Chargers went 5-12 and ranked 21st in offense.
Kellen was one of only three known candidates for the job. Former Cards head coach Kliff Kingsbury and Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson also interviewed. All three were big-time college quarterbacks.
That tells you how important this hire is to Jalen Hurts, whose performance declined under Johnson, who was coached in high school by Hurts’ father.
“It's really important that those two guys are going to work hand in hand to make sure we're getting back to where we need to be,” Sirianni said.
During Moore’s four years in Dallas as offensive coordinator and play caller, the Cowboys averaged 27.7 points per game – 2nd-most in the NFL behind the Chiefs’ 28.8. During his five years in Dallas as either QBs coach or OC, they had the 4th-most passing yards in the NFL with 256 per game.
Moore’s only NFL playing time came in with the Cowboys at the end of the 2015 season.
With Tony Romo injured and Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel struggling, Moore played in the last three games, starting two, and threw four touchdowns and six interceptions vs. the Jets, Bills and Washington. He threw for 435 yards with three TDs against Washington in his final NFL appearance. Moore is the first head coach or offensive or defensive coordinator in Eagles history who either played or coached with the Cowboys at any point before he joined the Eagles.