In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, defensive coordinator Sean Desai has been fired by the Eagles.
But the notable thing is that head coach Nick Sirianni is the one who fired him, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport first reported the firing on Sunday evening.
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While the news of Desai’s firing isn’t shocking after he was stripped of his play-calling duties during the 2023 season, the fact that it was Sirianni doing the firing is certainly notable.
The Eagles collapsed down the stretch — losing six of their last seven games — leading to plenty of questions about Sirianni’s future going into his meeting with owner Jeffrey Lurie late last week. Sirianni’s reported involvement in coaching changes seems to be another indication that he will return for his fourth season at the helm in 2024.
The Eagles have not yet announced any decision on Sirianni and they may not ever formally announce it. But signs seem to be pointing in at least another year for the coach who has led the Eagles to the playoffs in three straight seasons to start his head coaching career.
As for Desai, the Eagles hired him last offseason to replace Jonathan Gannon, who left for the head coaching job in Arizona. While the Eagles’ defense certainly wasn’t near the top of the league under Desai, things really crumbled when they turned the defense over the Matt Patricia, who won't be back either.
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The decision to demote Desai and promote Patricia came before the Eagles’ Week 15 game against the Seahawks and it was an abject disaster. The Eagles went 1-4 the rest of the way with Patricia as their DC and that entire side of the football looked lost.
Several players have admitted that it was really difficult to change during the season and it left the Eagles without an identity on defense. There were moments down the stretch when the Eagles’ defense couldn’t stop anyone.
For the final five games of the season, Desai keep his DC title and was in the box for games but it was Patricia in charge on that side of the ball.
“They’ve switched responsibilities, and Sean did a really good job helping out in the game on Monday both in the locker room at halftime and on the headsets,” Sirianni said on Dec. 20. “I know Matt valued his opinion and his vision and was really — I really admire how Sean went about his business last week. I think any of us that have been in a situation where things didn’t go the way we wanted it to go, you can go two ways with that.
“It really speaks volumes of the person and the coach that Sean is and the character that Sean has that he did everything he could do to help the football team. That’s why Sean is here, and we know he can help us continue moving forward and really excited to have him continuing to have a role on this team and on this staff.”
There hasn’t been any word on the future of Patricia but there are very likely to be more staff changes coming for the Eagles as they prepare for the 2024 season. That’s what happens when a talented team completely crumbles down the stretch after a 10-1 start.
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