Kellen Moore is up to three head coaching interviews, and he's doing all of them this week as the Eagles prepare for the Rams.
It may not seem ideal for an offensive coordinator to be spending a significant amount of time interviewing for other jobs while his team is a couple days out from a crucial playoff game, but Nick Sirianni said Friday it’s normal for coaches to do it, and he’s not concerned with Moore short-changing preparation for Sunday.
“He'll be in all the meetings and doing all his work,” Sirianni said. “There's no doubt that he has been all week and he's done everything the way he's needed to do it to get ourselves ready for this.
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“You know, I think there's sometimes a misconception of coaches that like at the end of the week you don't get any time to relax. There is a time on Fridays and Saturday afternoons where you do that. And those are the times that in these scenarios, guys get to earn the right to interview for jobs.”
Assistant coaches whose teams are still alive in the postseason are allowed to interview - virtually only - starting Wednesday after wild-card round. If there’s a first interview, and their team reaches the Super Bowl, they’re allowed to do a second interview - in person this time - during the bye week after conference championship weekend. If their team loses this weekend, they can interview anytime.
An assistant whose team is still alive who doesn't do a first interview this week can't do an in-person interview until after his team's season is over.
Moore actually was scheduled to interview Thursday with both the Cowboys, the team he spent 2015 through 2022 with as a player and coach, and the Jaguars. He was scheduled to meet virtually with the Saints on Friday.
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The Eagles face the Rams at 3 p.m. Sunday in a conference semifinal playoff game at the Linc, with the winner facing the winner of the Commanders-Lions game.
Moore is in his first year as Eagles offensive coordinator and play caller. He’s Jalen Hurts’ fifth play caller in five NFL seasons.
“I love it here,” Moore said on Tuesday. “ I've had so much fun here. It's been a really fun process, and we're in a really special situation right now, getting the chance to play this Sunday, having a chance to make a run at this thing, and that's really all you worry about. Everything else is what it is, and we'll see where it takes you.”
Sirianni lost both his original coordinators to head coaching jobs after the 2022 season -- Shane Steichen to the Colts, Jonathan Gannon to the Cards. He replaced them with Brian Johnson and Sean Desai last year, then fired both -- Johnson after the season and Desai late in the season, replacing him with Matt Patricia. Moore and Vic Fangio replaced Johnson and Patricia this year.
So Sirianni has had three offensive coordinators and four defensive coordinators in four seasons.
He emphasized Friday that Moore is hardly unique as a coordinator preparing for a playoff game but also going through the head coaching interview process.
“We're not the only ones in this position,” Sirianni said. “There's a lot of teams that are still going in this weekend that are having guys do this as well.
“So Kellen's ready, has our team ready you know and, he's handled it big-time all week, which I really never thought that he wouldn't. So, yeah, he's handled it like a pro.”
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