The Eagles have requested permission from the Seahawks to interview Sean Desai for their defensive coordinator vacancy, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
Desai has Philadelphia ties – he coached at Temple under Al Golden from 2006 through 2010 – and after nine seasons in various roles under three head coaches with the Bears, he spent this last season as assistant head coach and defensive assistant under Pete Carroll in Seattle.
DeSai, 39, is the second outside coach that’s emerged this week as a candidate to replace Jonathan Gannon, who is the new head coach of the Cards. The Eagles reportedly are interested in meeting with Vance Joseph, who was released earlier Friday from his contract as the Cards’ defensive coordinator.
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Desai followed Golden to Miami in 2011 and after one year as assistant director of football operations he returned to coaching in 2012 at Boston College under Frank Spaziani as running backs coach and special teams coordinator.
In 2013, Marc Trestman brought Desai to the Bears as a defensive quality control coach and when John Fox was hired in 2015 he kept Desai in the same role. One-time Eagles training camp quarterback Matt Nagy replaced Fox in 2018 and also kept Desai, promoting him to safeties coach in 2019.
Desai has an unusual background. He’s the only person of Indian descent to ever serve as an NFL coordinator. He graduated from Boston University in 2004 with degrees in philosophy and political science, then earned his master’s in higher education from Columbia in 2005. During his stint coaching at Temple, he earned his doctorate in educational administration.
The Eagles ranked 2nd in the NFL in defense this past year and 1st in pass defense.