‘He's a winner' — Sirianni has support of key Eagles with future uncertain
‘He's a winner' — Sirianni has support of key Eagles with future uncertain originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Fletcher Cox didn’t even want to entertain the question about Nick Sirianni’s job security.
He didn’t even want to acknowledge the possibility.
“Come on, man,” Cox said on Wednesday after cleaning out his locker. “He’s the head football coach of this team, man. There ain’t even a f—ing discussion about that. I don’t got nothing to say about that, man.”
Cox might not want to have the discussion but the discussion is being had. And at some point this week, Sirianni will meet with owner Jeffrey Lurie and then Lurie will have to make the decision to either keep Sirianni for a fourth season or move on.
The decision likely won’t be made based on resume, but rather on the plan going forward.
“What is there to talk about? This man, he’s a winner,” Cox said. “He’s a winning head coach. Did we have some bumps this year? Yeah. But every team, every organization, everybody goes through it. But we don’t look at firing a man that has obviously won 10+ games two years in a row, that’s took this organization to three playoff appearances in a row.
“He’s a good leader for this team. He does a really good job. Did we come up short? Yeah. Did things happen this year? Yeah. But I don’t discuss about firing a man. This man got a family. I don’t discuss anything about that.”
Sirianni, 42, has indeed taken the Eagles to the playoffs in three straight seasons. He has won double digits in back-to-back seasons. He did take the Eagles to the Super Bowl less than a year ago.
But the collapse in 2023 is hard to ignore. The Eagles lost six of their final seven games and lost a few of them in extraordinarily embarrassing fashion, including in the wild-card round to the Buccaneers. They went from 10-1 to 11-6 and a first-round ouster.
Longtime center and Philly legend Jason Kelce is reportedly retiring but he would like to see Sirianni return for the 2024 season.
“Of course, yeah. I love Nick,” Kelce said. “I think Nick’s a great coach. I really do. I think he’s a great head coach. Obviously, nobody was good enough this year. I wasn’t, none of the players, none of the coaches were good enough down the stretch. That’s the reality of this business. When you’re that bad, it’s a collective thing.
“But I’ll always have faith in Nick Sirianni. I think he does a lot of things structurally and organizationally that I think are really well done. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of things to fix to improve the outcomes and the offense in general from my perspective for next year. But I think very, very highly of Nick Sirianni.”
Kelce and Cox have been two of the most important voices in that Eagles locker room for a decade and their words definitely carry some weight with ownership. But there’s also a very good chance neither of them will be back for the 2024 season.
Another guy whose words carry weight is franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts, who didn’t take a very strong stance after the playoff loss on Monday night.
On Wednesday, he was again asked if he wants Sirianni to return in 2024. Hurts said he had confidence in Sirianni, Howie Roseman and Lurie.
“Owners own, coaches coach and players play. … You asked me something the other day about it and what did I say?” Hurts said. “I didn’t even know that was a thing. I didn’t know that was a thing. So I don’t see why that wouldn’t be the case. We plan on fixing everything that we’ve done and growing together, Coach Sirianni, Brian (Johnson), everyone.”
Well, “everyone” isn’t going to happen. There will undoubtedly be changes to the Eagles’ coaching staff going into the 2024 season. You don’t have one of the biggest collapses in sports history and expect to run it back the following season.
The big question, though, is about Sirianni’s future.
And as he conducted exit interviews with the Eagles’ players from the disappointing 2023 season, Sirianni’s future with the organization still seems unclear.
We’ll all gain some clarity — one way or the other — in the coming days.
”I mean, he took us to the Super Bowl. That’s gotta count for something,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “So, again, I’ve already had my meeting with Nick. Whatever happens, happens. I can’t control if there’s a coaching change. I would be very sad. I love Nick. He’s a tremendous person and the person that he is. I’m just glad to call him a friend and I’m glad to call him my coach. It’s tough times. It’s tough times. And I hate this part of the year because this is the worst part. This is the worst part. This is the part of the year I hate the most.”
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