10 defensive coordinator candidates the Eagles could target if Sean Desai-Matt Patricia depart
Nick Sirianni officially has his coaching tree after the Cardinals hired Jonathan Gannon and the Colts hired Shane Steichen in the 2023 coaching carousel.
Sirianni rightfully gets a lot of credit for the Eagles’ success.
Still, after a late-season meltdown that saw the Eagles go 1-6 in their final seven games, including the playoffs, the head coach and his assistant coaches could be on the hot seat.
Philadelphia’s third-year head coach has far exceeded expectations, but it’s clear that Gannon and Steichen played far more prominent roles than we thought.
With exit interviews set to begin, we’re looking at ten candidates who could replace Sean Desai and Matt Patricia if they depart.
Leslie Frazier, ex-Bills defensive coordinator
Frazier was a finalist for the Giants’ head coaching job that went to Brian Daboll and he was successful as the defensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills.
His Bills defense was a top-five unit in each of his final three seasons.
Patrick Graham, Raiders defensive coordinator
Graham joined the Raiders in 2022, and he has also had stints coordinating defenses for the Giants and Chargers.
The Raiders finished the 2023 season ninth in points allowed per game (19.5), marking the first time the team finished in the top 10 since 2002. They scored five defensive touchdowns.
Ejiro Evero, Panthers defensive coordinator
Carolina had the worst team in the league in 2023, but Evero turned the Panthers’ defense into a solid unit. This season, Evero’s defense ranks third in the league in passing yards allowed, sixth in passing touchdowns, and third in total yards allowed. That carries over from when he was the defensive coordinator in Denver in 2022, where his unit ranked seventh in the league in total yards allowed.
Evero, 43, led the Broncos’ top-10 defense during the 2022 NFL season despite having to support one of the league’s weakest offenses.
Al Holcomb, Bills defensive assistant
The 52-year-old was most recently the interim special teams coordinator and assistant head coach for the Carolina Panthers.
Holcomb had two stints in Carolina. The first was from 2013-2017 during McDermott’s tenure as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator. During that time, Holcomb was the team’s linebackers coach.
Chris Shula, Rams pass game coordinator/linebackers coach
Shula is the son of former Bengals head coach David Shula and the grandson of Don Shula.
He has been with the Rams since 2017 and worked as the linebackers coach before becoming the defensive backs coach, and passing game coordinator in 2022.
He was on the same Chargers staff as Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni in 2015 and 2016.
Jim Leonhard
Current title: Senior football analyst, Illinois (2023)
Prior experience: Wisconsin defensive backs coach (2016), Wisconsin defensive coordinator & defensive backs coach (2017-2022) and Wisconsin interim head coach (2022).
Jesse Minter
Age: 40 years old
Current title: Defensive coordinator, Michigan (2022-)
Prior experience: Baltimore Ravens defensive backs coach (2020) and Vanderbilt defensive coordinator/safeties coach (2021)
2023 DC interview: Philadelphia Eagles
Minter led college football’s top-ranked defense in 2023, as the Michigan Wolverines finished first in both scoring defense and yards allowed. Minter is among the elite defensive coordinators in college football, and interviewed for this position last offseason.
Mike Pettine
Packers21 5 Hoffman
Current title: Assistant head coach, Minnesota Vikings (2022-)
Prior experience: Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker coach (2005-2008), New York Jets defensive coordinator (2009-2012), Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator (2013), Cleveland Browns head coach (2014-2015) and Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator (2018-2020).
Glenn Schumann
Schumann is co-defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs and calls the plays for the two-time defending champs.
Here’s UGA defensive assistant Glenn Schumann talking about the necessity to play with a “Mirror” player vs QBs that can create vs tight coverage on 3rd down. Aggressive spy attacks after flushing the QB instead of your usual twist games out of four down. https://t.co/jUqsbNFavi pic.twitter.com/2X9bcgYT0B
— Diante Lee (@DianteLeeFB) February 8, 2021
Schumann interviewed with the Eagles last offseason for the same job.
Eric Washington
Washington joined the Bills in 2020 as the team’s defensive line coach and was promoted to senior defensive assistant/ defensive line coach prior to the 2022 season. Previously, he was the defensive line coach (2011-17) and defensive coordinator for the Panthers (2018-19), along with holding various positions with the Bears.
Buffalo’s 2021 defense ranked first in the NFL in fewest points allowed per game (17.0) for the first time in franchise history and also finished first in fewest yards allowed per game (272.8) and the fewest passing yards per game (163.0). With 19 sacks, Buffalo’s defense also fueled a 4-game win streak to finish the regular season
Carolina ranked second in sacks and fifth in quarterback hits under Washington after he took over for Sean McDermott.
