As the Eagles continue to reshape their coaching staff for 2024, they’re reportedly bringing in a former defensive coordinator for an interview.
The Eagles are set to interview former Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry for a position, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported.
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With Vic Fangio set to be the Eagles' next defensive coordinator, it seems like Barry is interviewing for a position coach job. Barry has been a linebackers coach before in the NFL with the Rams, Chargers and Bucs. He actually held that role with the Chargers from 2012-14, crossing over with a young Nick Sirianni. So there’s familiarity with the Eagles’ head coach.
Barry, 53, was fired by the Packers earlier this week after three years as the DC in Green Bay. He has also been a DC with Washington and Detroit in the NFL.
The Eagles’ linebackers coach last season was former Temple DC D.J. Eliot, who replaced Nick Rallis, who left with Jonathan Gannon to Arizona after the 2022 season.
With turnover at both of the coordinator positions this offseason, there are likely to be several position coach changes. Sirianni was asked about that during his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday. Aside from longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, it’s hard to imagine any other position coaches are safe.
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“We're still working. We're still working. Yeah, and that's what's tough,” Sirianni said. “You're still working, and there's still some guys that are up in the air. I hate this for them, because we are replacing coordinators, and there's guys that are up in the air, and their families are up in the air in the sense of -- I've got to get a coordinator in before we make a decision on maybe some of the quality controls or some of the position coaches.
“I know I believe in the guys upstairs, but also, there has to be an ability for some of the coordinators to bring in maybe one or two of their guys, or more. That's still an evaluation process. That's something that might not get sorted out until the coordinator is hired, until that coordinator gets to meet with some of the guys, make sure they can work together. So that's still a process that we're going through.”
If Barry ends up coaching the Eagles’ linebackers, he might not have much to work with. The Eagles’ top off-ball backers in 2023 ended up being Zach Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow. Cunningham didn’t sign until August and Morrow didn’t even make the initial 53-man roster.
The Eagles are still high on 2022 third-round pick Nakobe Dean but in his first chance to be a full-time starter in 2023, Dean struggled to stay on the field and landed on IR twice.
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