Jonathan Gannon has been informed he’s no longer a candidate for the Houston Texans’ head coaching vacancy, according to Josina Anderson.
Which means the Eagles’ 39-year-old defensive coordinator is presumably returning to the Eagles.
Gannon was reportedly one of three finalists for the Texans’ job, along with former Eagles quarterback Josh McCown and former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.
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Gannon interviewed twice with the Texans, most recently Jan. 29, and according to ESPN was considered the front runner for the job at one point.
The Texans are looking for a head coach for the second time in two years after firing long-time Eagles wide receivers coach David Culley back on Jan. 13. Culley replaced former Penn State coach Bill O’Brien.
Gannon also interviewed with the Broncos, who hired Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, and with the Vikings, who plan to hire Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell after the Super Bowl.
Since Gannon has not interviewed with the two other teams that still have head coaching vacancies — the Saints and Dolphins — Gannon appears to be headed back to the Eagles, where he served as Nick Sirianni’s defensive coordinator this past season after working with Sirianni in Indianapolis from 2018 through 2020.
NFL
As of now, Sirianni has not announced any changes to his coaching staff.
Passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo interviewed for the Bears offensive coordinator position, and quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson interviewed for the Packers’ offensive coordinator job, but the Bears hired Packers passing game coordinator Luke Getsy, and the Bears promoted offensive line coach Adam Stenavich.
Getting Gannon back for a second season is huge for Sirianni, who probably would have filled the opening by hiring from within — secondary coach Dennard Wilson would have made the most sense — but still values the consistency the defense will have with the same coordinator for a second straight year.
Not including the meaningless season-ending loss to the Cowboys, the Eagles this year ranked 8th in the NFL in points allowed, 2nd in yards allowed per play and 3rd in rushing yards allowed per carry.
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This was the first time the Eagles ranked in the top 10 in the NFL under a 1st-year coordinator since 1991, when they were No. 5 under legendary Bud Carson.
It will be interesting to see where the Texans go from here.
McCown has never coached on any level other than as an assistant with his sons’ high school team, and Flores is in the headlines for his blockbuster lawsuit against the NFL and the Giants, Broncos and Dolphins claiming discrimination in their head coaching hiring process.
Considering McCown's complete lack of college or NFL coaching experience and Flores' lawsuit, it would not be a very good look for them to hire McCown.
Flores, a long-time Patriots defensive assistant coach under Bill Belichick, went 24-25 in three years with the Dolphins without a playoff appearance.