Eagles

Nick Sirianni Thinks Jonathan Gannon Would be an “Awesome” Head Coach

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 28th, 2021 · 10:05 AM EST

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Don’t look now, but the Eagles’ defense is playing really well.

YES, I know they have faced juggernaut quarterbacks like Jake Fromm and Garrett Gilbert in recent weeks, but if you take the entirety of the season and run the numbers, it’s actually impressive what they’re doing in year number one under Jonathan Gannon, with just average talent across the board.

Here are some good stats from the Birds’ John Gonoude:

(Continued)

Fewest Explosive Plays . . . 101 (T-3rd)
Scoring Efficiency . . . 33.7% (9th)#FlyEaglesFly

— John Gonoude (@john_gonoude) December 27, 2021

The interesting thing is that Gannon’s name is starting to pop up in the head coaching discussion. There’s always an identification of possible candidates at this point every season, and it’s natural to go through the list of promising coordinators on good teams, so you’ve seen J.G. appearing in these conversations, be it on social media, podcasts, TV, etc.

Nick Sirianni was asked about that at his day-after press conference, and said this about Gannon and future approaches for his coordinators:

 I think Jonathan would be an awesome head coach. I really wouldn’t want to make a joke right there and be like, ‘He’d be terrible,’ because I really want to keep him here because I think so highly of him.

But I think he would be awesome, again, for the same reasons that I hired him to be the defensive coordinator would be the same reasons I think he would be a really good head coach. When people on your staff and people in the building are getting opportunities like that or get mentioned like that, that means you’re doing some good things. And so that’s the plan. That’s what you always want as a coach, for your coaches to get the opportunities because you’ve been doing well.

The way I would handle it is similar to kind of – I guess I go back to those situations I went through. I always wanted to make sure, obviously, that I got my work done for the team that I was currently working for before I did anything to get ready for any head coaching opportunities. I was really only presented with that chance one time in particular back in 2018 and there was a conflict between an interview and a game, and I just thought that that game, to our team, was more important than anything else. So, my suggestion to our coaches has always been to make sure you’re ready before the season even starts for your head coaching opportunities. Again, because this is an experience that I was able to go through. That way when you’re in the season, your sole focus is on winning that football game and doing what we need to do to help the organization we’re in now. That’s my message to these guys.

The thing that’s annoying here is that coordinators who become head coaches usually bring over guys from their current teams. Gannon, for instance, could try to bring over Shane Steichen to call plays, or promote one of the Eagles’ defensive assistants to coordinator at his new team. That’s where it gets into the territory of the Birds maybe not wanting potential interviews to happen, because this is a brand new staff with only a couple of holdovers (like Jeff Stoutland). You don’t want to ruin a good thing here, because the Birds seem to have a good coaching group and breaking it up too quickly would be a bummer.

That said, I highly doubt Gannon goes this offseason, but in the future? Sure. Everybody wants to be a head coach and if the Eagles keep trending in the right direction, he’ll continue to be a candidate.