Author: Jeff McLane

The Eagles are retaining running backs coach/assistant head coach Jemal Singleton and wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, NFL sources told The Inquirer on Tuesday. While coach Nick Sirianni has already made significant changes to his offensive staff, led by hiring Mannion last month, the return of two key members of his staff suggests a relative blending of the old and new.

Mannion, a first-time coordinator, is expected to bring with him some elements of the Kyle Shanahan-Sean McVay scheme that he learned during his playing and coaching careers. While Mannion never previously worked with Josh Grizzard — the Eagles’ new pass game coordinator — Grizzard also has experience in the “Shanahan” scheme.

New tight ends coach/run game coordinator Ryan Mahaffey and offensive line coach Chris Kuper have more direct links with Mannion, having crossed paths with the former backup quarterback and Packers quarterbacks coach.

The Eagles have yet to hire a new quarterbacks coach. Existing quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler remains on staff. Mannion, who played for the Rams, Vikings, and Seahawks during his playing career, is expected to work closely with Jalen Hurts, which could determine the type of quarterbacks coach he tabs.

Several other assistants on offense will return, as well, although their future roles are to be determined. Pass game coordinator Parks Frazier, assistant offensive line coach Greg Austin, and offensive quality control coaches Eric Dickerson and Montgomery VaGorder also will be back, sources said.

Kevin Patullo’s future with the team also remains uncertain. He was removed as offensive coordinator by Sirianni last month following his first season as a play-caller, but he currently remains with the Eagles.

Longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland’s resignation last week perhaps was the most significant change thus far this offseason. Stoutland 13-year run with the Eagles came under three head coaches. He became run game coordinator 2018 but was expected to lose that responsibility amid schematic changes.

Tight end coach Jason Michael also is no longer with the organization, sources said.

On defense, most of coordinator Vic Fangio’s staff will return. Defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator Christian Parker left last month to take the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator job. The 67-year-old Fangio considered retirement for a second straight year, but he elected to return, sources told The Inquirer last week.

It’s still unclear how much of the offense will look different with Hurts and most of the starting offense slated to return. The mix of new with Mannion and old from Sirianni’s staff since he became coach in 2021 suggests there will be some carryover.

But change is coming.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sean Mannion once played a pivotal role in the Seattle Seahawks beating the Eagles. But it came as neither player nor coach. It was as a quasi-player-coach — at least that’s how Drew Lock saw the future Eagles offensive coordinator.

In December 2023, Lock started at quarterback for the injured Geno Smith when Seattle hosted the Eagles in a Week 15 matchup. The Seahawks, like the Eagles, were slumping. But the playoffs were still within reach and Lock wanted to atone for the previous week’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers when he tossed two interceptions.

Mannion was the backup, just a chinstrap away from playing himself, but he spent most of the week, and especially game day, preparing the starter for his big moment.

“Me and Sean had to get really close that Eagles week — the week I ended up starting,” Lock said to The Inquirer a week before the Seahawks’ Super Bowl win. “Geno was trying to rehab as much as he could to be able to come back the next week. It was really me and Sean in the quarterback room most of the week.

“But the pep talk he gave me at my locker before we went out there, the stuff he’d say to me on the sideline, it didn’t sound like a fellow quarterback. It sounded like someone who was going to lead men one day. It just sounded different. You could feel it.”

Lock played splendidly despite not knowing what defense he might see after Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai’s demotion became public just hours before kickoff. Mannion, who was in his ninth and final season as a player, shifted into the role of coach just a few months before he would officially become one with the Green Bay Packers.

“It was how focused he kept me,” Lock said. “He saw and told me the things that I did well after a drive, or maybe the things I could have done better. I think it was more about delivery than anything.”

Lock was solid throughout the closely contested game, but he delivered in the clutch. With under two minutes left, he guided the Seahawks on a 10-play, 92-yard game-winning drive. All the yards came through the air, with Lock targeting cornerback James Bradberry in coverage, capped by a 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

The 33-year-old Mannion, who was hired by the Eagles two weeks ago after a prolonged search, has several ties to the Seahawks. He was coached by both offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, who along with Lock, became champions after the Seahawks beat the Patriots, 29-13, on Sunday night.

Last week, ahead of Super Bowl LX, they spoke glowingly about Mannion, despite his relative coaching inexperience. Janocko said he had a photographic memory.

“In the quarterback room, going over third downs, prepping for a third down day on Thursday, being able to give him two, maybe three words of a play call, he could spit out the rest after just looking at it that morning,” Lock said. “I don’t know many guys that can do that. It was just extremely impressive.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Milton Williams was autographing Super Bowl LIX merchandise about a week after the Eagles routed the Kansas City Chiefs when general manager Howie Roseman sidled up next to him.

Williams had four pressures, two sacks, and a forced fumble as he and his fellow linemen pounded quarterback Patrick Mahomes a year ago in New Orleans. Roseman had come to congratulate the defensive tackle, but also to intimate that the Eagles would not be offering a contract extension to the free-agent-to-be.

“That was when all the players sign the Super Bowl merch,” Williams said to The Inquirer on Wednesday. “[Roseman’s message] was like, ‘Get the most you can.’ Once I heard that — and, meanwhile, I was talking to my agent about the deal — I thought, ‘They’re probably not going to offer.’” (Through an Eagles spokesman, Roseman confirmed that the exchange occurred.)

He was right. Williams said he was crushed. He said he wanted to stay in Philadelphia.

“We had just won a Super Bowl. Of course I didn’t want to leave,” Williams said. “But I got to do what’s best for me. They had their agenda of what they wanted to accomplish, and I wasn’t part of it. So they let me go.”

Williams ultimately signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the New England Patriots — the largest amount given to any free agent last offseason and the most in franchise history. He said he knew it would have been difficult for Roseman to match, but to him, the silence was deafening.

“I wanted to see, like, what the interest was,” Williams said. “I had been there four years, giving all I can, playing hurt, putting my body on the line. It wasn’t business. I wanted to see what they had, but they probably knew I was out of their price range.

“Still, an offer would have [meant] maybe they do want me to come back. No offer is ‘We good.’”

Roseman had difficult decisions to make last offseason, particularly on the defensive line. The Eagles allowed end Josh Sweat and Williams to depart in free agency, with three first-round D-linemen slated for eventual pay increases.

Tackles Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis have yet to sign second contracts, but extensions could come this offseason. The Eagles also had the younger Moro Ojomo, a 2023 seventh-round pick, waiting in the wings.

But for Williams and his father, Milton, Sr., the lack of an offer was a slight.

“What pissed me off [is] they didn’t even offer him, offered nothing,” the elder Williams told The Inquirer. “They didn’t even entertain it. They just straight up told him — Howie Roseman said, ‘Milton, go get the bag, man, because we’re not going to be able to pay you.’

“That’s what he said to my son. … My son — it was like he wanted to cry. He said, ‘Dad, all I do …’ I said, ‘I understand, son. It’s a business. You’ll get yourself something.’”

The younger Williams got plenty. But he desired more than just to increase his bank account balance, his father said. He wanted to be wanted by the organization that drafted him in 2021. Williams felt he never got the opportunity to show his abilities because he always had higher draft picks or high-priced free agents ahead of him.

“They had their agenda. They drafted them boys in the first round and invested a lot of money in them boys,” Williams said. “I was a third-round pick, and they didn’t invest as much in me. That’s what I tell [my teammates], in the NFL it’s all about money. Money makes everything go. That’s how you see who’s going to play and what percentage of snaps.

“It’s all about money, and I wasn’t making that much.”

Williams is making a lot now. At $26 million per year, he’s behind only the Chiefs’ Chris Jones among NFL defensive tackles. The larger salary meant more playing time, but also more responsibility and more pressure.

The 26-year old has met and exceeded those expectations, according to most observers. He was at the center of the Patriots’ remarkable one-year turnaround — led by new coach Mike Vrabel — from basement-dwellers to the cusp of winning a championship.

Williams is one of only three players on the team to have previously won a title and he would become just the fifth player in NFL history to win consecutive crowns with different teams if New England upsets the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in Super Bowl LX.

“About three weeks ago, Coach Vrabel asked everybody in the organization, ‘Who here was in this situation last year in the playoffs?’” Milton Williams Sr. said. “And my son was the only one to raise his hand in the entire organization — nobody, coaches, staff — nobody else in the playoffs.

“That was powerful right there. And now they’re in the Super Bowl.”

‘He’s a grinder’

Williams admitted that he initially felt some pressure when he inked his deal, which included $51 million guaranteed. But the Patriots had done their homework. Vrabel said he knew a lot about Williams’ character from pre-draft evaluations the Titans did when he was in Tennessee.

“We did a lot of work on him coming out of the draft … and the type of person that he was, and the family that he’s come from,” Vrabel said Monday. “So we knew the person that we were going to get, and we were confident that he was somebody that we were going to add to our roster.”

But it wasn’t until the Patriots actually got Williams in the building that they realized how hard he worked.

“It was most surprising the more I’ve been around him,” defensive line coach Clint McMillan said. “There’s a lot of talented players, but how he’s wired is the thing that I was most excited about. He’s a grinder. He puts his nose down, and he keeps working. He’s never satisfied.”

Williams wasted little time making his presence felt. He had seven pressures in the season opener, according to NextGen Stats, and 32 total through 10 games with a 13% pressure rate that was among the best at his position.

But he suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 11 and missed the next five games. It was first time he had been sidelined by injury in his career. The Patriots suffered as a result, particularly in defending the run. When Williams was in the lineup, they held offenses to just 3.7 yards per carry. When he was out, they allowed an NFL-worst 5.0-yard average.

“It was a big change because a lot of guys [offensive game-planners] were focused on where I was at,” Patriots defensive tackle and Neumann Goretti product Christian Barmore said of Williams’ absence. “But when he came back, it was an epic time because that man right there, he’s a good player. We already knew he brought a spark to our defense.”

He’s elevated his performance in the postseason and had four pressures and two quarterback hits in the AFC championship game vs. the Broncos. He told The Inquirer that he was randomly tested for drugs after the game.

“We don’t do drugs, man,” Milton Williams Sr. said. “We don’t do drugs right here. We work, man.”

Vrabel has used Williams like a chess piece up front, having him swap sides in the interior and even occasionally jump out to the edge. Roseman highlighted Williams’ versatility when he drafted the Louisiana Tech prospect who lit up the NFL combine almost five years ago.

But the majority of his snaps in Philly came at right defensive tackle because Fletcher Cox and Carter preferred to rush primarily from the left. Williams also wasn’t asked to take on a leadership role with the Eagles. He’s had to learn on the job in New England.

“I was never the guy that you would come ask questions,” Williams said. “We had other vets on our team who had done it before. I’m only 26, but I’m one of vets in the room because of my experience playing — it’s crazy.

“I’m just trying to spread the knowledge like some of the vets in Philly did when I was there.”

‘Make plays on this stage, it’ll change your life’

Williams had some struggles as a rookie, and he and the team faced criticism because he was drafted just one pick after Alim McNeill, a bigger-bodied defensive tackle who became a high-impact rookie with the Detroit Lions. Senior scout Tom Donahoe preferred McNeill, and the Eagles were in position to draft him but traded down from No. 70 to No. 73 in exchange for a sixth-round pick. McNeill went 72nd, and the Eagles took Williams 73rd. Donahoe, who left the team in 2022, was caught by TV cameras begrudgingly shaking Roseman’s hand in the draft room after the pick was made.

Roseman’s projection panned out, and Williams became one of the league’s more explosive interior rushers and a high-motor guy. But he often felt idle.

“He would get frustrated because he was like, ‘Dad, I’m putting in my work,’” Milton Williams Sr. said. “I’ve been at practice before, and I see these guys and they can’t finish a drill and land on their backs or whatnot. And I see that, and he finished the drill and got 15, 20 seconds left still.

“And I said, ‘I understand. But you know what? Whenever you’re on the field, make them call your name. Bottom line.’ That’s our saying right there: ‘If they’re calling your name on the field, that means you’re doing something.’”

But when the Eagles extended their first- and second-round draft picks from 2021 — wide receiver DeVonta Smith and guard Landon Dickerson — after their third seasons, Williams wasn’t next in line. He thought he would be.

“I was waiting. I was in the last year of my deal. I’m like, ‘It’s now or never,’” Williams said. “Every time I step out on the field, if I wanted to be there I was making sure I was making plays. But I was also putting out good tape for a situation like this.

“If they don’t want me to sign [early], I was going to change that, and watch me be a professional and get better every year as a player.”

Williams said he watched the Eagles regress without him this season. Their issues were many, but mostly on the offensive side. Williams said he kept in touch with various players and coaches and that Brandon Graham recently reached out to tell him he was proud of him.

The Patriots have leaned on Williams’ knowledge of Super Bowl week since he had experienced it twice previously. Vrabel put together a roster of underdogs. Williams may be the highest-paid, but he knows how it feels to be overlooked.

“We got a lot of guys who got released because they thought they weren’t good enough or they wanted to go in another direction,” Williams said. “So they got a lot of stuff in the back of their minds to motivate them and push them. ‘OK, you didn’t think I was good enough? I’ll show you.’ You make plays on this stage, it’ll change your life.

“I did it.”

The journey started in Crowley, Texas, about a 20-minute drive south of Fort Worth. At Bicentennial Park, Williams would run hills with his father. He still goes back there to maintain the hunger he first had when he felt disregarded.

“He’s had a chip on his shoulder all his life, from little league on up,” Milton Williams Sr. said. “He’s not the rah-rah type person. He’s just going to put the work in. And now that people are finally seeing what he can do, he’s just working. It ain’t over. They ain’t seen nothing.

“They haven’t seen anything yet.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Mack Hollins stood barefoot on the drab gray carpet at the San Jose Convention Center, surrounded by reporters and cameras, and couldn’t have felt more grounded in the spotlight.

It might have made more sense if the New England Patriots wide receiver was on one of the risers for Super Bowl LX opening night, considering all the attention the eccentric Hollins received. He’s far from a celebrity on a team lacking in stars, but the journeyman can’t help but stand out wherever he goes.

Whether it’s the cartoonish outfits he wears on game days, his stylish hairdos, or his idiosyncratic practices and beliefs — like hardly ever wearing shoes off the field — Hollins makes an impression. On the gridiron, the ninth-year pro continues to make an impact despite never being a top receiver on any of the six teams for which he’s played.

Hollins, who spent his first three seasons with the Eagles, has embraced his singular odyssey in the NFL.

“I’m totally fine with that [journeyman] label, whatever it is, because I chose wherever I went — outside of getting released from Philly and picked up by Miami,” Hollins said two days after opening night from a riser (and barefoot) — at the Santa Clara Marriott. “Every choice after that I got to pick. And I always was able to pick where I saw value and they saw value in me. And I’ve learned over the years that people that value you, don’t go where the money’s the best or you think the opportunity is the best.

“Go where it feels the best. And you only learn what feels the best from trial and error. So, yeah, if I’m a journeyman, so be it. At least I got to do it my way.”

Hollins’ way could include bookending his career with Super Bowl victories. He’s one of three active players on the otherwise youthful Patriots who have previously won a title — cornerback Carlton Davis and former Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams are the others. (Only former Los Angeles Rams receiver Cooper Kupp and linebacker Ernest Jones have rings for the opposing Seattle Seahawks.)

Hollins won in his rookie season in 2017. He wasn’t targeted as the fourth receiver, but he played 17 snaps and had a few key blocks in the run game as the Eagles beat the Patriots, 41-33, in the Super Bowl LII shootout.

He said he didn’t appreciate how tough it would be to get back to the big game.

“Not at the time. I was like I don’t know why [Tom] Brady is like this big deal,” Hollins said of the seven-time champion quarterback. “It’s not that hard. You just go there. You win three playoff games and you’re like going to get a ring. Literally, did not know it would be eight years before I’d get back to one.”

In that rookie season, Hollins caught 16 passes for 226 yards, including a memorable 64-yard touchdown against Washington on Monday Night Football, and was viewed as a field-stretching prospect. But he suffered a groin injury and surgery sidelined him for all of 2018. He returned the following season, but struggled to return to form.

The Eagles released him in December and the Dolphins claimed him the next day.

“In an ideal world, do I wish I would have had 1,000 yards every year and still be in Philly nine years later?” Hollins said. “Yeah, because then I wouldn’t have had to move my family six times. I didn’t have to like get six new jerseys for my family six times. But it worked out just the way it was supposed to.”

It wasn’t easy. The Dolphins didn’t reach the postseason in any of Hollins’ three seasons in Miami. And he remained a deep reserve at receiver, although he shined on special teams. But signing with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 altered his career trajectory.

Hollins flourished in coach Josh McDaniels’ offense and finished behind only All-Pro Davante Adams in receiving with 57 catches for 690 yards and four touchdowns. But he didn’t make the playoffs with the Raiders either, and wasn’t utilized as much when he transitioned to the Atlanta Falcons the next season.

But he became one of Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s more reliable receivers in Buffalo in 2024, and this season — after being reunited with Patriots offensive coordinator McDaniels — he posted numbers (46 catches for 550 yards and two touchdowns) that approached his career highs.

And perhaps more importantly, he helped a young group of receivers adjust to McDaniels’ system.

“Some of the younger guys have gravitated toward him and asked him, ‘How do we do this? How do we do that?’ And he’s been great with that,” receivers coach Todd Downing said. “And just the relationship part — getting to know him on a personal level isn’t very hard. I love his authenticity.”

Rookie Kyle Williams has been one of the receivers Hollins has taken under his wing. He said there’s more to the 32-year-old than meets the eye.

“He’s a little odd in his own way, not in a bad way, but in his own way, which everybody is,” Williams said. “But then you get to start knowing him, having conversations and I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s really cool. He’s chill.’ I can chop it up outside with him.

“He’s just been a great brother, a great vet. And if I have a question on any conspiracy theory that I have, I know it’s one person I can ask.”

Hollins can confabulate with the best of them, whether it’s about regenerative agriculture, or his quest to build the world’s largest aquarium — “Big enough so I can swim in it” — or his penchant for going sans footwear.

“I feel like I’m more connected to the ground. As corny as that sounds, and people are like, ‘Oh, you’re such a hippie,’” Hollins said. “I think the body is developed to connect to a lot of things. The same way you can feel energy when you walk in a room with people or the way you feel about something, you can’t put it into writing, but it’s just a feeling.

“And I feel like when I’m connected to the ground or when I walk outside or I get to be outside, I feel better, I feel more connected to the earth, and I feel like my body is less stressed out.”

Williams said Hollins would play barefoot if permitted. He and other Patriots have occasionally followed in his steps.

“I’ve dibbled and dabbled into it,” Williams said. “I think it’s better at home. I’m not comfortable letting my dogs out around 100-some eyes. But when I’m at home, I can walk around and do it faithfully.”

Some Eagles fans might have known about Hollins’ pet snakes or exotic fish, but their exposure to him was limited. He may be most remembered in Philly for his celebration after that long touchdown vs. Washington in 2017 when he did the then-famous “Floss” dance.

“I still have the dance,” Hollins said. “Every once in a while when somebody needs it, I can pull it out. The backpack Mack never died. He’s just over to the side.”

Hollins is perhaps the NFL’s best embodiment of Walt Whitman’s famous line from “Song of Myself”: I am large, I contain multitudes.

“I think people sometimes will look away from what life is supposed to be because they’re chasing something that isn’t realistic,” Hollins said. “They see the end result. A bodybuilder goes on stage, you see him, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness. Look at that. Look how strong he is, how his body is sculpted.’ But they skip all the pain he went through to tear his muscles apart and rebuild them.

“Life is simple. It just takes heart to get what you want.”

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Josh Jobe had locked down Jaxon Smith-Njigba in college before their matchups in Seahawks practices compelled Smith-Njigba to extol the virtues of the Eagles castoff to his coaches.

Smith-Njigba was a rookie wide receiver at Ohio State when he first faced the Alabama cornerback in the College Football Playoff championship game in January 2021.

“I was like, ‘Gosh this guy’s buff,” Smith-Njigba said. “Who’s this buff guy at corner lifting all these weights?”

Smith-Njigba lined up opposite Jobe for only about a dozen plays, but the ball never came his way. He had three future NFL first-round Buckeyes receivers also vying for targets, but the receiver struggled vs. Jobe’s press-man coverage as the Crimson Tide won, 52-24.

Three years later, Seattle signed Jobe to the practice squad when the Eagles released him after two seasons in August 2024. His confidence was shaken, but he had found a scheme that augmented his physicality and immediately had Smith-Njigba bending the ear of coach Mike Macdonald about the third-year corner.

“I remember our veteran receivers saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s pretty dang good,’” Macdonald said Wednesday. “And he kept making plays and when there was an opportunity to be on the field, we felt really confident for him to go out there and do his job. And he just kept hitting it.”

Jobe started earning call-ups to the game day roster, a promotion to the 53-man roster, and eventually starts in his first season in Seattle. But he elevated his play in 2025 and became a regular for arguably the best secondary in the NFL as the Seahawks are poised to face the Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday (6:30 p.m., NBC10).

The soft-spoken Jobe may float under the radar while cornerback Devon Witherspoon or safeties Julian Love and Nick Emmanwori get most of the attention. But teams around the league likely are aware of Jobe with the fourth-year pro set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

His ascension may seem sudden — which Jobe acknowledged — but only he knows all the steps he had to climb. As for pending free agency, he said he should be “the top” corner on the market.

“It is shocking — being undrafted and cut, trying to make the team throughout training camp,” Jobe said. “But I’ve been through a lot of adversity. So this is a big accomplishment. It’s pretty awesome. It’s a pretty great story.

“I thank Seattle for this opportunity. I would love to stay in Seattle. Hopefully, something works out.”

Nearly three years ago, Jobe saw his pre-draft stock fall because of a hamstring injury he suffered during his senior year. The Eagles snagged him after the draft. He contributed mostly on special teams, and started three games in 2023 when injuries forced him into the lineup.

He played two snaps at the Seahawks late in the season. Starter James Bradberry was getting torched so badly by receiver DK Metcalf that he was pulled before a series.

“I jumped in, and I got a flag,” Jobe said.

Metcalf — another future teammate who eventually would praise Jobe — drew a pass interference penalty vs. the handsy cornerback. Jobe logged one more snap and then was yanked himself. Smith-Njigba later caught the game-winning touchdown over the overmatched Bradberry.

Jobe, meanwhile, never quite hit his stride in the Eagles’ Vic Fangio-influenced defense. When Fangio was hired as defensive coordinator in 2024, and general manager Howie Roseman expended the team’s top two picks on Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, Jobe became the odd man out.

He said the additional competition didn’t affect him.

“I’ve been going against vets for years — [Darius] Slay, James Bradberry, and other guys,” Jobe said. “I’m used to competing since I was at Alabama. I’m all about competing. At the end of the day, what they decide is out of my control.”

The Eagles released Jobe after training camp. Seahawks general manager John Schneider scooped him up two days later. He saw a corner who could fit in McDonald’s aggressive scheme, which had similarities to the one Jobe played in at Alabama. It helped that Karl Scott, his defensive backs coach with the Crimson Tide, was in Seattle by then.

“He’s taken a slow climb to get where he’s going,” Scott said. “He’d be the first to tell you that he has a ton to learn about the position. He has a lot of the tools, especially his pure confidence, whether that’s false or real.

“Having confidence in yourself is important. I think a lot of that comes from hard work.”

Scott said he was worried this offseason about the cornerback spot opposite Witherspoon because Smith-Njigba was getting the better of Jobe and Riq Woolen. But when it became obvious during the season that the receiver had jumped to the elite level at his position, he recalibrated.

“I think, in turn, Josh contributed to Jaxon’s improvement,” Scott said. “He was jamming receivers and you would see them autocorrecting themselves. That was a sign to us in training camp that we might have something.”

Woolen might have been drafted by Schneider, but Jobe’s progress forced the Seahawks to split time between the two.

“That’s a great example of the pride that we take in how we run our program,” Macdonald said. “When you come in and you play great football, and you’re a great teammate, you’re going to get an opportunity to play.”

A year ago, Jobe said he watched the Eagles play in the Super Bowl “[ticked] off.” He said he was rooting for his former teammates, though, and that he appreciated Roseman and the Eagles giving him a first chance.

“At the end of the day it’s just a business and I wasn’t going to let that bring me down,” Jobe said. “I know what kind of person I am, what kind of player I am. So I just moved onto the next organization and showed them what kind of person and what kind of man I am.”

Jobe is about to become a first-time father. His fiancée, Nayomie Suarez, is due on March 13. They’re having a daughter.

“We’re naming her Ami,” Jobe said, “short for Amelia.”

Scott, more than anyone in football, has seen Jobe mature before his eyes.

“Whether he’s in a room with big names or no-names, Josh is a very quiet, cerebral guy. … I wish everything that’s coming to him in the future, but I don’t think it’s possible now to keep Joshua a secret,” Scott said.

“He’s done the part that everybody asked him to do, and now in turn, he’s going to hopefully get what he deserves.”

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Christian Elliss was cut from an NFL roster six times in the first three seasons of his career — four times by the Eagles. The last one, on Dec. 6, 2023, stung the most.

“I remember just [being] on the phone with my dad, crying,” Elliss said. “I was like, ‘Dad, that’s the one that really broke me.’ Because I thought I was playing well. I knew I had the talent to play, but for whatever reason … I can’t remember.”

The reasons were complex. The Eagles were reeling and injuries and subpar play at linebacker had forced general manager Howie Roseman to sign veteran Shaquille Leonard. Elliss played mostly on special teams, but he was viewed as the low man at linebacker and was waived.

“Howie and who’s the head man over there …,” Elliss said before being reminded that Nick Sirianni was the Eagles’ head coach. “… and Nick, for whatever reason, they didn’t see me as a piece for them. But luckily Bill did.”

That was Bill Belichick, the former Patriots coach. Elliss was claimed off waivers by New England the next day. And he hasn’t left, despite the coaching turnover that went from Belichick to Jerod Mayo to Mike Vrabel since Elliss’ arrival.

Getting cast off by the Eagles may have broken Elliss, but he has put himself back together over the last two-plus years. And he has been made whole into a starting linebacker on a Patriots team that has exceeded expectations and will face the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday’s Super Bowl LX.

Elliss, 27, may still have a chip on his shoulder. He and his wife, Kaysie, had two young children at the time, and he wasn’t sure about his future. But he said he now sees the silver lining in his sixth — and last — release.

“Honestly, me going to the Patriots was probably the best thing for me,” Elliss said. “I had vets that showed me the ropes. I had coaches that believed in me and wanted me there. I think New England is the perfect spot for me.”

Roseman probably regretted the decision. He had cut Elliss four times before, only to bring him back on the practice squad. But other NFL teams had about a season’s worth of film on the athletic linebacker, and not all of it as a member of all four special teams corps.

“We saw that he had some traits that we wanted to work with,” Patriots general manager Eliot Wolf said. “He had been productive on special teams for those guys, and when he had the opportunity to play on defense, he had been productive, especially in coverage.”

Elliss actually had started on defense for the first time in his career in the game before his release. He struggled in the blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but he wasn’t the only one. Defensive coordinator Sean Desai’s scheme was like Swiss cheese, and he eventually got demoted.

But Roseman felt he needed to address the linebacker group at that time. He didn’t necessarily have to create a roster spot at that position, but he told Elliss if he cleared waivers, the Eagles would bring him back.

His calculation proved wrong.

“They did tell me that,” Elliss said. “But when I got six teams that wanted to claim me, that affirmed that, yeah, I can play.”

Belichick had him work exclusively with special teams for the last month of the 2023 season. When the legendary coach left the Patriots in the offseason, Elliss had to convince another regime that he was worth keeping.

He made the 2024 roster as a backup and special teams contributor. But by Week 5, he started logging significant playing time on defense and became a regular the rest of the way. When Mayo was fired after the season, Elliss said he wasn’t expecting to return, though.

The Las Vegas Raiders made a play for the free agent. But because Elliss was restricted, the Patriots could match the two-year, $13.5 million offer. Vrabel and Wolf would remake most of New England’s front seven, but Elliss fit their vision and was retained.

“We felt that even though he reached free agency, he was still ascending,” Wolf said. “And he’s really just improved and improved. He’s a great kid. He plays really hard. He’s got some of the traits you can’t teach. He’s super fast. He’s explosive. He’s got great change of direction.”

There were initial struggles playing in a new scheme with new terminology in 2025. Elliss missed eight tackles in the first three games and was benched in the second half of the third game. But the Patriots stuck with him, and he steadily made progress.

“I think he took it to heart,” linebackers coach Zak Kuhr said of the benching. “He made some different personal changes with how he was going to view his position and his role. And credit to him and how he went about it.”

It has helped to have a head coach who played the position at a high level. Vrabel was a key cog in Belichick’s early Super Bowl-winning Patriots teams. He mostly played on the outside and often would rush from the edge, but he was open to moving inside to serve team needs.

Elliss said Vrabel has instilled in the Patriots that same unselfish mentality.

“I’ve never had a coach where he’s truly a player’s coach, meaning he holds everyone to the same standard. Not everyone does that in the league,” Elliss said. “Everybody has favorites one way or another. It’s just human nature. But for him, he doesn’t let it show, at least on the field or at least in the building.

“He makes sure everyone’s held to the same standard. No one gets away with anything. If you’re BS-ing in practice, if you’re putting your own self above the team, he never lets that slide.”

Growing up third-oldest of 12 children — seven of whom were adopted — Elliss may have understood the importance of the collective more than most. He also comes from a football family. His father, Luther, played 10 seasons in the NFL, and his brothers Kaden, Noah, and Jonah also have played in the league.

Noah spent parts of the 2022 and 2023 seasons on the Eagles as a practice squad defensive tackle. Christian and Jonah, a linebacker for the Denver Broncos, met in the AFC championship game. Their emotional embrace after the game touched many.

Only one could advance to the Super Bowl. Christian will be making his second appearance. He played 24 special teams snaps for the Eagles three years ago. He said he watched and rooted for his old team last year when it avenged the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the first Super Bowl meeting.

Elliss might have flourished in Vic Fangio’s scheme. The Eagles had long undervalued linebackers, but the defensive coordinator has spearheaded an organizational shift with investments made in Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell, for example.

Baun was instrumental in the defensive dominance of Kansas City. But the front four set the tone and harassed quarterback Patrick Mahomes into taking six sacks and committing three turnovers.

“Ball disruption. When you affect the quarterback, when you make him so he can’t set his feet and he’s always on his toes, it’s hard for them to produce,” Elliss said. “And I think the Eagles really did that well.”

Elliss should get opportunities to get after Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. He already has generated seven pressures in just 18 pass rush attempts this postseason. Two years ago, after his release, he was thinking more about survival than the Super Bowl.

“I was cut, I think, six, seven times in my early NFL career,” Elliss said. “And, honestly, I remember asking my dad, ‘Dad, is this meant for me? I don’t want to keep getting cut.’ It’s a terrible feeling, especially [because] I had two kids at the time. So that’s definitely hard.

“But I believe trials and tribulations produce endurance, they produce character. And I think it helped me in the long run.”