It almost surely did not escape Jeffrey Lurie’s notice that his offense turned out OK the last time he hired a Packers quarterbacks coach.
It shouldn’t escape ours, either.
Sean Mannion may not be the next Andy Reid. The Eagles didn’t hire the 33-year-old Green Bay assistant with the thought that he would become Reid. But Reid was Mannion at one point in time: an under-the-radar position coach without play-calling experience who was hired for a big boy job well ahead of schedule. This was back when Mannion was six years old, of course.
It has. Mannion and Reid don’t have much of a connection apart from having both sat at the same desk (figuratively … although, knowing Lambeau Field, maybe literally, too). Matt LaFleur is not Mike Holmgren. Sean McVay is not Bill Walsh. The lineage of Packers quarterbacks coaches who became offensive coordinators includes one Ben McAdoo. Having occupied the position is a trait neither prescriptive nor predictive. It is descriptive in one sense, though. A lack of play-calling experience should not be a deal-breaker for a team that is looking to overhaul its offensive identity.
In fact, play-calling isn’t the thing that will determine Mannion’s success or failure as Eagles offensive coordinator. It is the thing that we will focus on, no doubt. For a variety of reasons. First, because play-calling is the only part of the job that we actually get to see. Second, because guys like Walsh and Reid and McVay (and Mike Martz, Kyle Shanahan, etc.) have led us all to believe that football games are won the same way Jimmy Woods won video games in The Wizard. Which is silly, when you stop and examine the time card. Even at 70 plays per game and a full 40 seconds between plays, an offensive coordinator spends less than an hour of his work week calling the plays. The bulk of the job is the 79 hours that precede it.
Can Sean Mannion have the same strong working relationship with Jalen Hurts that Kellen Moore (right) experienced?
The Eagles need Mannion to be a good coach. Jalen Hurts needs Mannion to be a good coach. Those two things are one and the same. Because Jalen Hurts is the Eagles. Where they go from here as an offense depends almost entirely on who he is as a quarterback. Rather, it depends on who Hurts can be. Who he is? That isn’t good enough. All of us saw that this season. Not all of us understood what we saw. But we saw it. Plain as unflavored yogurt.
That’s not to say the Eagles’ disappointing 2025 campaign was all on Hurts’ shoulders. Seven months isn’t nearly long enough to transform from a player capable of winning a Super Bowl MVP to a player who simply isn’t good enough. His advocates are correct in that. Hurts would have been equally capable of winning the honor this season as he was in 2024, assuming the rest of the offense was also as capable as it had been. Therein lies the disconnect. You’ll make a you-know-what out of yourself if you’re assuming Hurts’ supporting cast will ever be as good again.
It’s funny. Nick Sirianni’s detractors constantly portray him as the unwitting beneficiary of a world-class roster. He is the dim-witted only son bequeathed an empire, a head coach who happened to stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. He showed up in board shorts at his interview and then rode the wave of Howie Roseman’s roster. But a roster that good doesn’t stay it for long.
Rarely is the same rubric applied to the quarterback. No, A.J. Brown wasn’t the same singularly dominant receiver he has been, which compounded his general malaise. No, the offensive line didn’t manhandle opponents the way it had in previous seasons. Yes, Saquon Barkley was a little less dynamic than he was when he was jumping backward over erect defenders. Each of those claims is perfectly valid. As is the rebuttal: welcome to life as most NFL quarterbacks live it.
Hurts can’t be the same as he was. He needs to be better. That’s going to take some very good coaching, provided he is no longer willing and/or capable of being the freewheeling scrambler he was in 2022. Being that player afforded Hurts the luxury of not needing to do the things that most other championship quarterbacks must do. He didn’t need to parallel process his pocket navigation, feeling pressure subconsciously while focusing downfield. He didn’t need to recognize that the deep crosser would clear before settling for the hitch in his foreground. He didn’t need to wait for a defense to man-up Brown on a vertical route to generate an explosive play.
It’s probably time to acknowledge that Jalen Hurts’ supporting cast isn’t going to suddenly revert to its 2024 form.
Hurts needs to do those things now. That’s the problem. Those things aren’t sustainable. Lane Johnson isn’t going to play forever. Even if he does, he won’t always be the same player. And the four guys alongside him won’t all remain healthy as consistently as he has.
Same goes for the pass-catchers. Here’s a quick a thought exercise. In the four years since the Eagles traded a first-round pick for Brown on draft day, has any other team managed to swing a move at the position that was even 75% as impactful? The Chiefs have spent five off-seasons trying to replace Tyreek Hill. The Patriots haven’t had a receiver of that caliber since Randy Moss. A great quarterback makes the most of what he has.
Just to reiterate: Hurts doesn’t need to be Tom Brady. He needs to be better than he was in 2025 in order to win with the supporting cast most quarterbacks have, which is the supporting cast he is likely to have moving forward. Mannion will play a significant role. His profile is intriguing.
Nobody can understand a quarterback like somebody who has played the position. Kellen Moore was a quarterback. His quarterbacks coach was a quarterback (former NFL backup Doug Nussmeier). Shane Steichen was a quarterback. None of them were as good as Hurts. But they understood what quarterbacks see, how they process, what they need. Sirianni and Kevin Patullo were wide receivers. So were McVay and Shanahan. Again, neither prescriptive nor predictive. But we are talking about Mannion.
Mannion is a quarterback, and he has played the position in lots of different settings, under lots of different coaches, including McVay and Kevin O’Connell, as well as Klint Kubiak and Kevin Stefanski. He has coached under LaFleur, who has won a lot of games with a quarterback (Jordan Love) who lacks a lot of what Hurts brings to the table. Mannion’s coaching profile is about as ideal as you can draw up for a guy who has only been a coach for two seasons.
Sean Mannion understands quarterbacks because he was one… very recently, in fact.
It is also a vote of confidence in Sirianni. The Eagles could easily have opted for a coach who possessed the play-calling experience that Patullo lacked. Jim Bob Cooter, Matt Nagy, Bobby Slowik — any would have made a fine interim-head-coach-in-waiting. Instead, they went with a coach who lacks anything close to the political capital that Moore brought to the table when they hired him to replace Brian Johnson after 2023.
Will it work? Who knows. It is the only honest answer. All we can say: it is a sensible move. In the end, it all depends on the quarterback.
Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott celebrates an extra point during the third quarter of the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The Eagles' season ended sooner than expected with a loss to the 49ers in the wild-card round. Now the Birds will try to assemble a roster that can help them get back to their Super Bowl standard. Beat writer Jeff McLane makes his picks on what personnel decisions he sees the team making this offseason.
Make your pick for each player by swiping the cards below — right for Stay or left for Go. Yes, just like Tinder. Finding it hard to decide? We'll also show you how other Inquirer readers have voted so far and what we think the team will do.
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Quarterbacks
The biggest question here (for a second straight year) is whether Tanner McKee will stick around as the backup.
#1
Jalen
Hurts
Crowd says
Height
6'1"
Weight
223lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Stay
We've seen what he can accomplish with a good coordinator. But he needs help in the drop-back game if he's going to elevate.
#14
Sam
Howell
Crowd says
Height
6'1"
Weight
220lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
Tanner McKee's broken hand in camp forced the Eagles to trade for him before the season. He's a free agent and should get a backup opportunity elsewhere.
#19
Kyle
McCord
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
218lb.
Age
23
Inky Says Go
He had a rough first camp, but a full season to watch and learn may help. His return may depend on the new coordinator and scheme.
#16
Tanner
McKee
Crowd says
Height
6'6"
Weight
231lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Stay
It's not fair to base an evaluation solely on the finale. But it's unlikely the Eagles will receive attractive enough offers to trade.
A.J. Brown’s long-term future with the Eagles might be the biggest question of the 2026 offseason.
#80
Darius
Cooper
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
5'11"
Weight
210lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
The undrafted rookie was used mostly as a run blocker, but he has some receiving upside. He'll be back.
#11
A.J.
Brown
Crowd says
Height
6'1"
Weight
226lb.
Age
28
Inky Says Stay
His future is the question of the offseason. By his standards, he didn't have a good season and may have lost a half-step. He still projects as one of the best. There's also a significant cap charge.
#18
Britain
Covey
Crowd says
Height
5'8"
Weight
173lb.
Age
28
Inky Says Stay
It took too long, but when he was promoted to the active roster the return game was given a boost.
#2
Jahan
Dotson
Crowd says
Height
5'11"
Weight
184lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
It must have been tough running all those for-the-love-of-the-game routes. He was just too slight to make an impact as the third receiver.
#6
DeVonta
Smith
Crowd says
Height
6'0"
Weight
170lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Stay
He was maybe the one guy on offense who met expectations. If A.J. Brown leaves, he should be the bona fide No. 1.
#85
Terrace
Marshall
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
200lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
The Eagles need more young receivers with upside. He doesn't satisfy that need.
#86
Quez
Watkins
Crowd says
Height
6'0"
Weight
193lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Go
After a few post-Eagles years in the NFL wilderness, he returned to the practice squad.
#89
Johnny
Wilson
Crowd says
Height
6'6"
Weight
228lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
The Eagles lost their best blocking receiver in training camp. He should return in that role.
Some big names could be moving on here, as Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips appear set to test the market.
#53
Zack
Baun
Pro Bowl
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
225lb.
Age
29
Inky Says Stay
He proved that 2024 wasn't a fluke and his contract guarantees he's here through 2027.
#30
Jihaad
Campbell
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
235lb.
Age
21
Inky Says Stay
He handled his demotion with grace, but the former first-rounder needs to be in the lineup next season. Can he be a hybrid?
#59
Chance
Campbell
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
232lb.
Age
26
Inky Says Stay
He provided good looks on the scout team and should probably get a look-see in training camp. Making the 53-man roster is another thing.
#17
Nakobe
Dean
Crowd says
Height
5'11"
Weight
231lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
A few years ago, it would have been a no-brainer to retain him. But the Eagles have Campbell in the wings and their most depth at off-ball linebacker in years.
#58
Jalyx
Hunt
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
252lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
Eagles' scouting deserves accolades for plucking this former safety out of anonymity. He did it all in his second season. The future is bright.
#48
Patrick
Johnson
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
248lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Go
Practice squad Patrick has been a loyal soldier for five on-and-off years. He wasn't getting call-ups late in the season.
#42
Smael
Mondon Jr.
Rookie
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
224lb.
Age
22
Inky Says Stay
He'll be a depth piece who can play special teams for years, if need be.
#13
Azeez
Ojulari
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
240lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
It's hard to see him wanting to be back when it was clear the Eagles slow-played his return from a hamstring injury.
#50
Jaelan
Phillips
Crowd says
Height
6'5"
Weight
266lb.
Age
26
Inky Says Go
He started strong and then leveled out. Vic Fangio likes him, but is he worth the squeeze when others will pay?
#3
Nolan
Smith Jr.
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
238lb.
Age
24
Inky Says Stay
The triceps injury lingered into the season. He plays with great effort, but size and durability remain concerns.
#54
Jeremiah
Trotter Jr.
Crowd says
Height
6'0"
Weight
225lb.
Age
23
Inky Says Stay
He could probably start at middle linebacker for a number of teams, but will likely have to watch for another season.
#0
Joshua
Uche
Crowd says
Height
6'3"
Weight
226lb.
Age
27
Inky Says Go
The trade for Jaelan Phillips and Brandon Graham's unretirement marginalized him. He'll likely want to explore other options.
#43
Ben
VanSumeren
Crowd says
Height
6'2"
Weight
231lb.
Age
25
Inky Says Go
It will be tough to return from back-to-back season-ending knee injuries, but I wouldn't count him out.
It’s awards season, and not just for those in showbiz. The Eagles fell short of a Super Bowl repeat, but they’re still eligible for the next best thing — The Inquirer’s 2025 EEOYAAOS (Eagles end-of-year awards and other superlatives).
The name is a work-in-progress and subject to change next season. All jokes aside, while the year ended in disappointment for the team, there were bright spots that can serve as sources of encouragement for seasons to come. Here are the winners of this season’s superlatives, unilaterally selected by yours truly:
Quinyon Mitchell, left, and Cooper DeJean both became All-Pros in 2025.
Most Valuable Player
Let’s start this exercise off strong by breaking the rules (that don’t exist). There are two most valuable players on this year’s team, and they’re both on defense: Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
Not-so-coincidentally, both second-year cornerbacks were selected to their first All-Pro team and Pro Bowl this year.
In a short period of time, Mitchell and DeJean have become cornerstones of Vic Fangio’s defense. Mitchell, 24, took on more responsibility within the scheme in his second season. Before the Week 9 bye, the 2024 No. 22 overall pick out of Toledo was often tasked with shadowing the opposing team’s top receiver.
According to Next Gen Stats, going into Week 8, Mitchell had at least 10 man coverage matchups against Tampa Bay’s Emeka Egbuka (16 matchups), the Rams’ Davante Adams (15), Denver’s Courtland Sutton (15), and Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson (11). He conceded 43 receiving yards on four receptions against Sutton, but he held each of the other three receivers to 12 or fewer yards.
After the bye, Mitchell primarily aligned in the boundary, the short side of the field that typically garners less safety help. He had more passes defensed (9) than receptions allowed (6) across 29 targets and 233 coverage snaps in the boundary, per Next Gen Stats. His 20.7% completion percentage allowed in that alignment was three times lower than the season-long league average from that spot (65.5%).
DeJean was just as dominant from the slot, an important position in Fangio’s defense that is required to defend the run and pass. He finished the season with a 57.4% completion percentage and 5.9 yards per target from the slot. Both metrics rank below the league averages of 69.5% and 6.8, respectively.
They had their struggles (and successes) in the wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but their bodies of work throughout the year make them worthy recipients of the award.
If 2025 was his swan song in Philly, Dallas Goedert went out with a bang.
Offensive Player of the Year
This award nearly went to DeVonta Smith, but Dallas Goedert gets the slight edge. The 31-year-old tight end was Jalen Hurts’ most trusted receiver in the red zone, hauling in 10 touchdown passes inside the 20-yard line this season. That performance was particularly meaningful given the Eagles’ declining efficiency on the Tush Push.
Goedert’s 11 receiving touchdowns tied for the most among tight ends in 2025 and set a franchise record at the position. Goedert added two more touchdowns in the wild-card game — one rushing and one receiving — making him the first tight end in NFL history to rush for a touchdown in the playoffs.
This isn’t just about his red-zone performance, though. Goedert caught 73.2% of his targets, the most among the Eagles’ top three receivers (including Smith and A.J. Brown). He also started a career-high 15 games, which was particularly impressive coming off of an injury-riddled 2024 season.
He did not have his best year as a run blocker, although neither did any other player paving the way for Saquon Barkley. Still, it was a career-best year for Goedert in other areas heading into an offseason of uncertainty. He becomes an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.
Jordan Davis was a force along the defensive line for the Eagles in 2025.
Defensive Player of the Year
Few Eagles players ascended as rapidly as Jordan Davis did this season. In his fourth year with the team, the 6-foot-6, 336-pound defensive tackle became the every-down player the Eagles sought when they drafted him No. 13 overall out of Georgia in 2022.
Davis played a career-high 61% of the defensive snaps in 2025, his first season playing more than half of them. Unsurprisingly, he was particularly effective against the run. According to Next Gen Stats, Davis notched a career-best 50 run stops, which are tackles in run defense that result in a negative play for the opposing offense. That total was the second-most among defensive linemen.
He showed some pop as a pass-rusher, too. Davis finished the year with a career-high 4½ sacks. His 22 pressures were a personal best, too, per Next Gen Stats. Davis could be in line for an extension this offseason as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.
Eagles punter Braden Mann has a strong leg and had a strong year.
Special Teams Player of the Year
There’s an argument to be made that Davis and Jalen Carter could share this award given their blocked field goals this season. But the unsung specialist of the season was Braden Mann,the 28-year-old punter. Some might even call him the Mann of the Year.
Mann, who signed with the Eagles in 2023 after spending the first three years of his career with the New York Jets, had the single best season by an Eagles punter in franchise history. He averaged 49.5 gross yards per punt, bringing his Eagles career average to a franchise-best 49.5.
In his Week 8 showing against the New York Giants, Mann averaged 57 net yards (subtracting return yardage) per punt, the most in a single game in franchise history. In a year where the Eagles offense punted a lot, Mann did his best to help out the defense and put opposing offenses in poor field position. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year and the Eagles would be wise to bring him back on a new deal.
Jihaad Campbell is off to an encouraging start to his career.
Rookie of the Year
Jihaad Campbell was the Eagles’ top rookie this season. He didn’t have much competition. Safety Drew Mukuba fractured his fibula in Week 12 against the Dallas Cowboys, prematurely ending his up-and-down rookie campaign.
Ty Robinson, Mac McWilliams, Smael Mondon, Drew Kendall, and Cameron Williams hardly played this year. Kyle McCord and Myles Hinton didn’t play this year.
Still, Campbell is a worthy recipient. He fared well as the starting inside linebacker alongside Zack Baun while Nakobe Dean recovered from his torn patellar tendon in his knee to start the season. In Weeks 1-6, Campbell played 94.3% of defensive snaps, then dropped off to 30.7% over the next eight games before Dean’s hamstring injury.
He flashed potential, especially in coverage. Going into Week 13, he had a 63% completion percentage when targeted, which ranked ninth-lowest rate among linebackers in 2025 (minimum of 15 targets) at the time, per Next Gen Stats. Campbell has plenty of room to grow, with more opportunities on the way in 2026, as Dean is a free agent this offseason.
Defensive backs coach Christian Parker’s talents have been recognized around the league.
Assistant Coach of the Year
It’s a big season for the Eagles defensive backs room at the EEOYAAOS. Christian Parker, the Eagles defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, is earning his flowers as the team’s assistant coach of the year.
The 34-year-old assistant has helped Mitchell and DeJean reach great heights in their first two seasons in the league, especially this season in their All-Pro year. Parker also deserves some credit for the improved play of Adoree’ Jackson as the season progressed. The second outside cornerback spot seemed like a concern coming out of training camp, but the competition eventually stabilized as Jackson grew more comfortable in the defense.
How much longer will Fangio be able to keep Parker around in Philly? Parker is reportedly interviewing with the Dallas Cowboys for their vacant defensive coordinator job.
Jordan Davis celebrated a touchdown after running back a late fourth quarter blocked field goal against the Rams on Sept. 21.
Best play
Few plays brought more juice this season than Davis’ blocked field goal to seal the Eagles’ 33-26 Week 3 win over the Rams. Both Carter and Davis exploited the Rams’ weaknesses in their field goal unit to block a pair of three-point tries in the fourth quarter, but the image of the 6-foot-6, 336-pound Davis returning the loose ball to the end zone as time expired will live on in franchise history.
The play sustained the Eagles’ dominance over the Rams under Nick Sirianni, bringing their head-to-head record to 4-0 over the last three seasons (including the postseason).
Nolan Smith Jr. and the Eagles emphatically assisted Kenny Pickett and the Raiders to becoming the NFL’s worst team in 2025.
Best game
The Eagles offense was a tale of two halves for the majority of the season, making for some uneasy watches. One of the only exceptions was the 31-0 Week 15 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
In theory, the quality of the opponent should factor into consideration for this award. But the timing of this win is too important to ignore. This resounding victory came on the heels of the Eagles’ three-game losing streak, during which comparisons to the 2023 collapse intensified. The Eagles quelled some doubts by beating up on a bad team, although they ultimately faced the same postseason fate as the 2023 squad.
Fangio’s defense had never been more dominant. They limited the Raiders to 75 yards of offense, a new single-game franchise low for the Eagles and the fewest allowed by any defense during season at the time. Hurts bounced back from committing five turnovers the week prior in the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. He went 12-for-15 for 175 yards and three touchdowns, earning a near-perfect 154.9 passer rating.
Tank Bigsby averaged nearly six yards per rush even as the Eagles’ rushing offense struggled at times.
Biggest surprise
It took some time, but Tank Bigsby proved to be a solid addition this season. Immediately after Howie Roseman acquired him from the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for 2026 fifth- and sixth-round picks, he began the first four weeks of his Eagles career as a kick returner.
He wasn’t the right fit for the role. After a couple of muffed kicks, he was removed from the gig. But on offense, he made the most of his scant carries. He 58 rushes for 344 yards and two touchdowns. While the majority of his touches came against bad defenses (i.e. the Giants, Raiders, and Commanders), his 5.9 yards per carry ranked third in the league among running backs with at least 50 runs.
Bigsby is under contract through 2026, ensuring the Eagles have a solid RB2 option behind Barkley next season.
Jalen Hurts knows his way around a quote.
Best quote
Hurts is known for dropping bits of wisdom in his press conferences. He seems to have sayings for everything, including some of the hottest practices of training camp. After a sweltering practice on July 29, Hurts said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all,” a quote that has been attributed to a variety of prominent figures including U.S. Army general George S. Patton and Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
Perhaps the second-best quote of the season came from Jordan Mailata, regarding another one of Hurts’ aphorisms: “That [stuff] is [freaking] hilarious. Like, how does one think of that?”
Jordan Davis: fun to cover.
Best locker room guy
Davis emerged both on the field and off of it this season. Not only was he dominant as a player in his fourth season, but his infectious personality also uplifted his teammates as he stepped into a leadership role.
No player was more gregarious in the locker room. Transcribing interviews was typically an exercise in trying to decipher quotes from a cacophony of laughter and yelling in the background, which stemmed from Davis. The 26-year-old defensive tackle earned the Eagles local media corps’ stand-up player of the year award, bestowed upon a player for their accessibility and honesty.
Plenty of others deserved the distinction, too. Jackson and Zack Baun landed on my ballot, in addition to Davis. Brown, Barkley, Dean, Brandon Graham, and Britain Covey are always insightful in their discussions with the press.
Best nonhuman source of positivity
Reggie the dog, the Eagles director of joy. Better luck next year, Positivity Rabbit.
The Eagles don’t just need an offensive coordinator. They need a quarterback whisperer.
They need Josh McCown. Or maybe Cam Turner.
Kevin Patullo wasn’t ready for the OC job in Philly, but then, Bill Walsh and Sid Gillman wouldn’t have won a Super Bowl the way Jalen Hurts played in 2025.
Hurts’ development has stalled. He might even be broken. He’s largely the same quarterback at the end of the 2025 season as he was at the end of 2022. Defenses know that, and they exploit it. As the offensive line deteriorated, and as Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown started to show their age, more was asked of Hurts, who delivered ever less.
They need an offensive coordinator who can invigorate a veteran quarterback whose career is idling. Both McCown, a former Eagles backup quarterback, and Turner, who has the bluest of NFL bloodlines, have done just that.
Fire starters
The most compelling story of the 2024 season involved Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and a bust with the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers, who made the Pro Bowl in his seventh season and led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record.
The most compelling story early in the 2025 season involved not only Darnold’s continued ascendance, now in Seattle, but also Daniel Jones. He was the No. 6 overall pick in 2019 but turned out to be such a bust with the New York Giants in his first six seasons that they released him.
Jones signed with Indianapolis, where Turner, as quarterbacks coach, had been developing Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in 2023, while helping veterans Joe Flacco and Gardner Minshew squeeze out a few more NFL starts. When given an established talent like Jones, though, Turner made hay. Turner convinced head coach Shane Steichen to bench Richardson in favor of Jones, and Turner was right. The Colts were 8-2 and Jones was a dark-horse MVP candidate with a career-high 101.6 passer rating when he broke his leg in Game 11. Jones suffered a torn Achilles tendon two games later.
Colts quarterbacks coach Cam Turner played a big role in Daniel Jones’ resurgence before the quarterback suffered a season-ending injury.
So, amid all the flashy possible candidates — fired Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, fired Giants head coach Brian Daboll, fired Washington Commanders coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, figurehead 49ers OC Klay Kubiak — you have, in McCown and Turner, two position coaches who played the position, who possess credible pedigrees, and, within the past two years, have salvaged the careers of quarterbacks who were in even worse shape than Hurts.
Granted, they wouldn’t be acting as Hurts’ position coach. However, if head coach Nick Sirianni — also never a QB, and only briefly a QB coach — will assume more of a role in scheme construction and game-planning, which he’s going to help with anyway, McCown or Turner could spend more time with Hurts than would a normal OC.
Granted, they haven’t called plays. But then, neither had Ben Johnson when he became offensive coordinator in Detroit in 2022. He’d never even coached quarterbacks. He still turned out to be excellent at running an offense, both with the Lions through 2024, as well as in 2025, his first season as head coach with the Chicago Bears, who are two wins from making the Super Bowl.
The team desperately needs some QB IQ in the building after the caliber of coaching Hurts received this season. And no, we’re not referring to Patullo.
Scot who?
There was a lot of head-scratching last winter when Sirianni hired career college coach Scot Loeffler as quarterbacks coach. Loeffler’s only season in the NFL was as quarterbacks coach for the Lions in 2008, when Daunte Culpepper, Jon Kitna, and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky combined for an 0-16 record. Loeffler coached on the first 0-16 team in NFL history, a season best remembered for Orlovsky, while facing modest pressure, unwittingly scrambling out of the back of the end zone (the Lions lost by two points).
No matter what happened the rest of the game, this Dan Orlovsky safety would be one of the most memorable bloopers in NFL history.
What made it even worse: the Lions went on to lose by two points…
Unlike Loeffler, McCown and Turner bring significant NFL bona fides.
McCown played for 10 NFL teams over a 16-year career. He only approached being a full-time starter four times, but at his last eight stops, he was credited with making the other quarterbacks better as a sort of extra coach. In 2006, with the Lions, he actually played wide receiver, and caught both passes thrown to him. In 2019, he came out of retirement and served as Carson Wentz’s backup and mentor. Not coincidentally, Wentz’s career cratered after 2020.
Even if he doesn’t get the OC job, McCown always will have a home in Philly. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie loves him. He offered McCown a coaching job after the 2019 season, which McCown, then 40, declined, hoping to take one more shot as a player. Lurie then signed McCown to the practice squad in 2020 but still let McCown live at home in Texas until the Houston Texans signed McCown onto their active roster in November.
Other than recently redeeming failed quarterbacks, McCown and Turner share little else in their backgrounds.
Depending on how you view things, either Turner is one of the NFL‘s most egregious proliferate examples of nepotism, or he has impeccable NFL coaching DNA.
His uncle, Norv Turner, won two Super Bowls in the early 1990s as Jimmy Johnson’s offensive coordinator in Dallas. His cousin and Norv’s son, Scott Turner, has spent 14 seasons coaching in the NFL, and he’s the Jets’ passing game coordinator now, but that shouldn’t count against Cam.
Independent of his connections, Cam has proved himself worthy of his appointments. He was the assistant QB coach in Arizona in 2020, when Kyler Murray went to his first Pro Bowl, and was the head QB coach in 2021, when Murray went to his second.
Turner also has the benefit of working with Steichen in Indy. Steichen, of course, was the OC when the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl after the 2022 season.
Colts coach Shane Steichen, the former Eagles offensive coordinator, started the 2025 season 8-2 with Daniel Jones as his starter and Cam Turner coaching quarterbacks.
Turner also worked in Arizona under Kingsbury, one of the retread candidates everyone has been sniffing around since Black Monday began claiming victims last week.
“Sniffing around.”
Sounds about right.
The names
With a $128 million offense like the Eagles’, why risk a season on lesser-known candidates like McCown and Turner?
Because being lesser-known doesn’t necessarily equate to lesser ability.
McDaniel is a big name, but the awkward departure of Vic Fangio as his defensive coordinator after their 2023 season together would cause instant friction if McDaniel joined a franchise and moved to a city where Fangio is worshipped. Anyway, McDaniel seems certain to get another head coaching gig during this hiring cycle. If he doesn’t, he’d be foolish to turn down the Lions OC job if offered, since, in this moment, Jared Goff is a better quarterback than Hurts.
Daboll was hired by the Ginats to develop Jones. He did the opposite. Also, his combustible personality is likely to clash with Sirianni’s.
There isn’t a universe in which Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken doesn’t accompany John Harbaugh to Harbaugh’s next stop, since Harbaugh’s refusal to fire Monken apparently influenced his firing in Baltimore.
and got fired by the Cowboys as QB coach after 2022, failed as Kellen Moore’s QB coach with the Chargers in 2023, and was the QB coach in Philly during Hurts’ mediocre 2024 season. Not exactly a sterling resumé.
Frank Reich, the OC in 2016-17 under Doug Pederson, is Lurie’s favorite employee ever, and, at 64, he’s unlikely to be poached by any other team if the Eagles thrive with him as coordinator. But Reich was less responsible for Wentz’s development than hard-nosed quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo. As for “Flip” himself, team sources have said in the past that DeFilippo long ago burned any bridge that might ever bring him back to Philadelphia, and there have been plenty of opportunities to do so.
Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase has never coached NFL quarterbacks, has one year as a college offensive coordinator, and with all due respect, seems to be this year’s long-shot assistant who gets the Duce Staley Treatment — that is, token interviews for head-coaching jobs with NFL teams trying to fulfill Rooney Rule requirements.
Still, Scheelhaase seems far more qualified than Klay Kubiak. He spent seven of his first eight years out of college coaching high school, and only three of those as a head coach. He joined the Niners in 2021, and he has been offensive coordinator for just one year, but he doesn’t even call plays. Kyle Shanahan does.
Maybe it won’t matter who they hire. Considering how so many podcast pundits and online experts spend their Monday mornings eviscerating folks like Kevin Patullo, game planning, sequencing, adjusting, and play-calling can’t be all that hard. Can it?
HBO released its final episode of Hard Knocks covering the NFC East on Tuesday after the Eagles’ season-ending wild-card playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
The finale of the docuseries, which unlike past episodes spent the majority of its 45-minute run time focusing solely on the Eagles, covered Saquon Barkley’s new favorite motivational movie, Nick Sirianni’s home life, and what the team talked about after the loss. (Don’t worry, we tried to keep the parts about the actual game to a minimum.)
Here’s what you may have missed from the final episode of Hard Knocks: In Season With the NFC East …
Not quite my tempo
Most people likely know that actor Miles Teller is also a huge Eagles fan. But did you know that one member of the Eagles is a huge fan of his?
Saquon Barkley was caught speaking to backup quarterback Tanner McKee, detailing how he was motivated by Teller’s hit film Whiplash ahead of the Eagles’ first practice leading up to the team’s wild-card game.
“I feel good,” Barkley said. “And I watched this movie called Whiplash. That [expletive] had me doing sit-ups and push-ups in my house. I went outside, and I was running hills. Like, I got to chill out, bro.”
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley found inspiration in a Miles Teller movie.
The 2014 film won a trio of Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons, who plays an uncompromising professor at the prestigious music academy Teller’s character attends. It stresses the need to push back against mediocrity in pursuit of greatness, a theme that Barkley applied to the Birds offense as a whole.
“I do feel like there’s potential that we haven’t tapped into, especially on the offensive side of the ball,” Barkley said, with a Whiplash-style drumbeat playing in the background. “I am excited about that. That we still get to go out there and put in a complete game. I believe that with the men and people we have in this facility, it’s time, and we are going to get it going.”
The extra motivation led the reigning offensive player of the year to his fourth 100-yard game of the season with Barkley rushing for 106 yards, 35 above his average.
‘Effort is free’
Speaking of tempo, Hard Knocks revealed a moment during practice in which Jalen Hurts implored his offensive teammates to get to the huddle quicker so they have more time at the line to assess the defense and change the play if need be.
During the final episode of Hard Knocks, Jalen Hurts talked to his teammates about how to speed up the often criticized operation:
“Get back to the huddle. Focus on getting back to the huddle, that helps the operation.” pic.twitter.com/JllsWhwbRs
Barkley and Hurts also spoke of their different approaches to practice, with the running back keeping things light while the quarterback is all business. Barkley called it “a beautiful mix.”
“It’s not anything new in terms of the habits I’ve built,” Hurts said of his stoic demeanor. “It’s just a matter of doing those things consistently. That’s how I’ve always known to get myself ready to go out there and play.”
Hurts, the son of a football coach, explained why he prepares and carries himself the way he does, saying one of his father’s lines that stuck with him is “Effort is free.”
“Effort is something that you can control,” Hurts said. “And so, as a quarterback, what’s my effort in the way I execute? What’s my effort in the way I lead? What’s my effort in the example that I set? And trying to put yourself in positions to get ready for whatever the moment may demand. And so, you like to take your mind to a place where you can see it or visualize it, and then you can go out there and react with an intense and competitive mindset, and find a way to win.”
As tensions rose inside the Eagles organization, with a playoff game looming and many calling for the job of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who was removed from his position Tuesday, Hard Knocks did a great job of reminding viewers that coaches are people, too.
Halfway through the episode, Sirianni, who has also come under fire from Eagles fans, is featured alongside his wife, Brett, and their three children, Jacob, 10, Taylor, 8, and Miles, 5. The Eagles head coach seems to be training his children to be wide receivers, following in their father’s footsteps. Sirianni was a receiver himself in college at Division III Mount Union, as the series highlighted in an earlier episode.
“All right, now we do this last game,” Sirianni says. “I throw as hard as I can, and then you throw as hard as you can, whoever drops first.”
His youngest, Miles, is wearing the jersey of A.J. Brown, who got in a sideline spat with the Eagles coach on Sunday.
With Sirianni and his wife sitting on the couch, the coach has his children running routes and directs Taylor into open space, where she catches the pass over her two brothers.
“Are you as competitive at home as you are at the facility?” one of the filmmakers asks off camera as Sirianni smirks.
“Yeah, he is,” Brett says with a laugh and little hesitation. “With everything possible.”
Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham leaves the field after the playoff loss to San Francisco.
Letting down BG
Brandon Graham may be an Eagles legend, but he is for sure not a fortuneteller.
The 15-year vet who came out of retirement to rejoin the Birds was mic’d up during practice, exuding his trademark enthusiasm while optimistically predicting the outcome of the playoff game.
“I ain’t going to lie, I’m hype for the offense,” Graham said. “Things just about to keep building, we’ve just got to stay locked in and have fun out there and run to the ball. I ain’t going to lie, that clip when they was running to that sidelines right there, I said, boy, we fly like that, we’re going to be smothering.”
Graham doubled and tripled down on this prediction, going as far as saying that he’d come back after winning the Super Bowl in 2026 just so he could win it in 2027.
“Man, let’s go get us another one, man,” Graham said to defensive line coach Clint Hurtt. “Why not? I mean, I’m coming right back. I say 3-for-3, come on, let’s go! Let’s just get this one, but I’m with you, though.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) and linebacker Zack Baun in happier times: a Sept. 28 win against the Buccaneers.
The Bald Eagle
All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun got a special highlight leading into the Eagles’ final game of the season, starting in practice when some friendly razzing was caught on tape.
“Hey Zack, let me see your head,” rookie Jihaad Campbell asked during practice.
“Nah,” Baun said. “I haven’t shaved in a couple of days, man.”
“The thing about being a bald guy is you either are ashamed of it or you own it, and that’s just your personality,” Baun said. “So I’m a bald guy. What can I say?”
Baun is also seen at home with his wife, Ali, and son, Elian, flipping through a scrapbook Ali made to celebrate his “storybook” 2024, a year in which he went from a special-teams player to an All-Pro and Super Bowl champion.
Baun also spoke on his fan-given nickname, the Bald Eagle, saying that he and his wife approve of the name. But the real star of this segment? Baun’s son, who was shown on the field adorably celebrating the Eagles’ NFC championship game victory last year.
Hard Knocks offered some insight into the Eagles’ season-ending loss, including Baun taking blame for the 49ers trick-play touchdown — “That’s me; I lost him,” Baun admitted — and Sirianni exerting himself in the offensive play-calling.
“Hey, what about [deep] shots, Kevin?” Sirianni asked Patullo before a third-and-9 shot to Brown, who dropped the ball.
But the moment that got the most attention from fans came after Sirianni’s final meeting with his players.
“We didn’t end the way we wanted to end,” Sirianni told his team. “I know that’s tough. I can feel it in the room, you can feel it. We all feel the same feeling. Use that adversity, use that pain. All that is necessary for our growth. I have no doubt in my mind that we will get better from this.”
The episode then cuts to just two men remaining in the auditorium at the NovaCare Complex: coach and quarterback.
In the final scene of Burn After Reading, the Coen brothers’ brilliant comedy about government espionage and … divorce, a CIA administrator, played by J.K. Simmons, listens as a subordinate named Palmer lays out a wild sequence of events. To sum it up: Tilda Swinton is married to John Malkovich but has been having an affair with George Clooney, who himself is married but has been dating Frances McDormand, who is friends with both Brad Pitt, who gets shot in the face by Clooney, and Richard Jenkins, who is in love with McDormand but gets hacked to death with an ax by Malkovich, who is left in a coma after getting shot by a CIA agent. At the end of the story, a dumbfounded Simmons finally rolls his eyes and asks, “What did we learn, Palmer?”
I don’t know about you, but that scene makes me think of the 2025 Eagles.
So, what did we learn from this season? Here’s what:
The offensive line has been the key to the Eagles’ success for years. This year, they lost that key.
The debates around Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and A.J. Brown — and around what Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and A.J. Brown might have said to one another on the sideline during the Eagles’ loss Sunday night to the San Francisco 49ers — are all, to a large degree, academic. If the team’s offensive line had played at the level that it did in 2024, or anywhere close to that level, the entire scope of the season, let alone Sunday’s result, would have been different. One statistic clarifies how great the falloff was: Last season, Saquon Barkley averaged 3.8 yards before contact. This season, he averaged 1.4, according to TruMedia.
Eagles linemen (from left) Tyler Steen, Cam Jurgens, and Landon Dickerson had their ups and downs this season.
There are obvious explanations for the line’s regression: injuries, general wear and tear, replacing a road-grading guard in Mekhi Becton with a lesser run-blocker in Tyler Steen. Demoting Patullo, as the Eagles did Tuesday, was the predictable and correct move. Still, there’s no getting around the reality that one of the reasons few people complained about Kellen Moore’s play-calling in 2024 is that the 2024 OL could create holes and lanes for Barkley anytime, anywhere. Patullo did not have that luxury, and it’s unlikely the next conductor of the Eagles offense will, either, because …
… Lane Johnson has been the franchise’s most important player for a long time, and his future is murky. He turns 36 in May. He didn’t play after mid-November because of a Lisfranc sprain in his right foot. He is a surefire Hall of Famer. Since the Eagles drafted him in 2013, their record with him is 110-57-1, and their record without him is 18-27. The end of a great career is approaching, perhaps not next season but certainly sometime soon, and the franchise has to start making plans to replace him or to mitigate the effect of his absence. One way would be to draft some promising offensive linemen. Another would be …
… for the Eagles to set themselves up as a defense-first team. That’s where their best young players are, and there are such players at every tier of the unit: Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo at tackle; Jalyx Hunt and Jihaad Campbell on the edge; Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean (if they can keep him) at linebacker; Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in the secondary. Plus, well, Vic Fangio. And the Eagles are going to need that defense to be elite, or as close as possible, because …
… the questions about Jalen Hurts aren’t going away. The biggest of them, ahead of the 2025 season, was whether the Eagles could rely on him more than they once did. In ’24, their running game was so dominant that they could get away with throwing the ball less often than any other team in the NFL and still win the Super Bowl. This season — without Barkley ripping off 6 yards every carry, with Hurts himself running less frequently and without the same explosiveness he had in the past — the offense sputtered and stalled. Given that Hurts will turn 28 in August and has absorbed his share of punishment over his five years as the Eagles’ starter, it’s fair to wonder whether that dynamism with his legs is gone forever.
Jalen Hurts is tackled by San Francisco’s Keion White and C.J. West during the fourth quarter of the playoff loss on Sunday.
It’s not that the Eagles can’t win a championship with Hurts. Of course they can. They did. It’s that they have to ask themselves, What conditions do we have to create to ensure that Hurts will be at his best, and can we create them? The Eagles and everyone around them have to set their expectations for Hurts and the entire franchise accordingly, for these last five-plus months proved that …
… Philly fans are at their worst when their teams don’t meet expectations. Based on the collective outrage since Sunday’s game, you’d never know that the Eagles won a Super Bowl less than a year ago and haven’t had a losing season in five years.
Eagles fans react during the wild-card playoff loss to San Francisco.
There seems to be a repulsive sense of entitlement and hair-trigger anger growing within the fan base, symbolized by a Bucks County indoor golf course whose owners allowed customers to drive balls at a projection of Patullo’s face. Patullo already had someone chuck eggs at his house in November, and if that incident could be dismissed as dumb kids doing dumb things, this one had a calculated maliciousness to it, especially considering the way it spread over social media.
You want to be a jerk in the privacy of your own home? Go for it. But a business or anyone else doing something like this for the likes and the attention is lousy, and it has the potential to snowball into something worse. It doesn’t matter how bad a play-caller Patullo was or wasn’t. Cut out the juvenile crap. The Eagles lost. Grow up and get over it.
The Eagles season ended sooner than expected, and that means there are plenty of questions surrounding the team as eight others continue to battle in the playoffs. Here’s what they’re saying about the Birds after their early exit …
‘Mediocre across the board’
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce believes the offensive coordinator isn’t the only person who should be blamed for Sunday’s loss.
“I know that everybody is out on Kevin Patullo. I happen to know the guy, I love Kevin Patullo,” Kelce said on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown. “I know he’s a great coach. I know it wasn’t the best performance this year, offensively. They had the No. 1 highest-paid offense in the league and were mediocre across the board. That’s unacceptable. They had their chances to win that game [Sunday]. The players didn’t make the plays.”
"[The Eagles] had their chances to win that game yesterday, and the players didn't make the plays!"@JasonKelce acknowledges the coaching issues throughout the year, but holds the players accountable for losing against the 49ers 😳 pic.twitter.com/EiBdITdGXs
The 49ers defense held the Eagles to 19 points in Sunday’s loss at Lincoln Financial Field. Kelce praised the San Francisco defense for its efforts in the win over the defending champs.
“What Robert Saleh did to that defense, it’s commendable what they’ve done to get to here,” Kelce said. “It’s absolutely a testament to that organization and how well they’re built and how they function across the board. Kyle Shanahan with the trickeration, finding a way to get things open. You tip your cap to them. But Philly had their opportunities.”
Although Kelce may not be among those calling for Patullo to get fired, his coworker Marcus Spears certainly is.
“I’m not going to teeter around it, Kevin Patullo’s [butt] needs to be gone,” Spears said on Monday Night Countdown. “This was a horrible year of calling the offensive plays. And I don’t think the Philadelphia Eagles offense is as bad as we watched it based on the talent. That’s what kept us on the string all year long.”
"Kevin Patullo's ass needs to be gone." @MSpears96 feels strongly about the Eagles offensive play-calling this year 😬 pic.twitter.com/5nAFUxLunA
Patullo has been a member of the Birds coaching staff since Nick Sirianni arrived five seasons ago, but this was his first year as the offensive coordinator after he replaced Kellen Moore, who took the head coaching position with the New Orleans Saints. After the Birds’ short postseason run, ESPN’s Get Up show posed the question: Was Kevin Patullo the Eagles’ weakest link this season?
“The frustrating part about watching that offense, and it’s happened all year and it’s very on display in this game, is that it appears as if they’re not trying unless they’re trailing,” Domonique Foxworth said on Tuesday. “What I’m watching in the second half, it’s second-and-8, it’s second-and-10, it’s third-and-10, it’s third-and-11. And they’re running the ball and throwing swing passes. I’m not a fan of the Eagles, I’m just a fan of football. Like, come on. I imagine Eagles fans are watching this like, ‘Try something. We won a Super Bowl last year. We’ve been together all year and our answer on third-and-10 is a swing pass to Saquon Barkley?’”
A lot was made about the Eagles going conservative in the second half Sunday, but it’s been an issue throughout the season.
“This is the point that we made about this team all year. And maybe they just weren’t as good as we wanted them to pretend that they were,” Foxworth continued. “But the point that we made was, the reason we wanted them to be more aggressive offensively is that there will come a game where the breaks won’t come your way and you wish that you would have extended the lead. And I’m watching this game and they’re like, ‘We’re up by one, let’s go ahead and punt.’”
Foxworth also noted the difference between how the Eagles and Niners attacked those situations, with San Francisco being proactive while the Eagles seemed content to sit back and wait for something to happen.
“You watch this [49ers] team, which knows they’re not that good — or knows that they don’t have that much of a margin of error — they’re like, ‘Look, we’ve got to take shots.’ And we’re watching the Eagles like, ‘Come on. Do something, do something, do something.’”
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had multiple costly drops in the team’s wild-card loss.
‘Our offense becomes dull and stale’
Although most of the blame is being directed toward Patullo, there are some critics, including former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, who have questioned Jalen Hurts’ role in this year’s predictable offense.
McCoy went on The Speakeasy podcast after the game and said the quarterback was holding back the offense. “We can’t do different exotic looks, different formations, different motions because I’m hearing that [Hurts] can’t really do it,” he said.
But Hurts didn’t appear to hold back the offense a year ago, and former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb defended the Super Bowl LIX MVP on 94 WIP.
“Let me break it down for this, and I know there’s a lot of rumblings about what Jalen wants to run and what he doesn’t like,” McNabb said. “He’s deserving of that decision as the quarterback of the franchise. He’s the face of the franchise. He’s won you a Super Bowl. He’s been Super Bowl MVP. You know he’s been in this league long enough where he decides what he likes and what he doesn’t like.
“It’s our choice as the quarterback to be able to be comfortable with what we’re calling. So we can eliminate that whole mindset that everybody on the outside is trying to create. That whole narrative.”
Instead, to McNabb, there was one critical moment that changed the Eagles offense for the rest of the season.
“To me, with this offense, everything shifted ever since A.J. [Brown] started talking he wasn’t getting the ball,” said McNabb, who played alongside another outspoken wide receiver in Terrell Owens. “The offense shifted and everything was kind of going to A.J., and DeVonta [Smith] being the third option. And so, that’s kind of to me where it took us away from what we were very successful with last season to what’s going on with this season. And we didn’t make that change.
“And so we’re trying to please people now. So, our offense becomes dull and stale because we don’t move guys around.”
Jalen Hurts knew the score. He knew Kevin Patullo was done. It made zero sense for the Eagles quarterback to say he wanted the offensive coordinator to return, knowing it was a fait accompli.
“It’s too soon to think about that,” Hurts said Monday when asked about wanting Patullo back. “I put my trust in Howie, Nick, and Mr. Lurie.”
The Eagles haven’t officially fired or demoted Patullo as of this writing, but it’s only a matter of time before Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni, and Jeffrey Lurie come to that conclusion after a once-banging offense ended a calamitous season with a whimper on Sunday. (Editor’s note: Patullo was removed from his position Tuesday).
It was hard to find any source within the NovaCare Complex who expected otherwise. And if you listened closely to Hurts’ comments at his locker stall the day after the Eagles lost to the San Francisco 49ers, you could hear in his tone an elegy for Patullo.
“I hate that, you know … [pause] … I hate that,” Hurts said before another pause. “I hate that it ended this way, but I know we’ll be better from it.”
Hurts was talking about how the season ended, but he just as easily could have been talking about Patullo’s fate.
He could have also, of course, stood up on his stool and defended the coach. He could have taken accountability for his role in the first-time play-caller’s struggles. He could have pointed to specific plays he failed to make and specific ways he limited the offense.
But it really made no sense. Patullo will be the latest coordinator to exit the annual roller coaster that is having Hurts as your quarterback. From the highs of getting head coaching promotions (see: Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore) to the lows of getting canned (see: Brian Johnson and eventually Patullo).
Hurts, meanwhile, will remain and have a fifth different coordinator and sixth play-caller since Sirianni became head coach in 2021. And if you want to go all the way back to college — as Hurts has noted before — he’ll have his 14th different play-caller in the last 11 years.
That’s a lot of change and most of it out of his control, especially in Philadelphia after Sirianni gave up play-calling during his first year. But Hurts isn’t a pup anymore. And even he seemed to acknowledge that play-caller turnover isn’t a credible excuse after he won a Super Bowl in his first season with Moore.
“I accept the change,” Hurts said when asked about areas he wanted to work on this offseason. “I accept that those things come, whether expectations are met or whether we’re making Super Bowl runs. I’ve experienced both ends of it, and so I have a unique perspective on that.
“So I’m not going to allow that to be an excuse for us not to make championship runs and for us to not have the success that we desire and that I desire.”
Hurts is just one piece of the puzzle, just as Patullo was. They’re major parts of the machinery, so they rightfully get the most attention. But too much outside blame was placed on the coordinator because he was new, while not enough was directed toward the quarterback because of his previous success.
It’s understandable. Doesn’t make it accurate.
Inside the Eagles, most understood that there were myriad reasons for the offense’s decline. The personnel wasn’t as good. The offensive line wasn’t as healthy. The coaching staff wasn’t as sharp. And it’s damn hard to repeat as champions. The margin for error is slim in the NFL.
The Eagles’ best leaders looked internally at themselves and what they could improve and refused to point fingers. But there was definitely some redirecting of criticism, with the split about evenly distributed between Hurts and Patullo.
The Hurts critics just seemed louder. Some of the gripes were performance-based. Like the offense isn’t exotic and moves slowly because Hurts can’t read complex defenses or doesn’t want pre-snap motion. Or his inability to process post-snap limits middle-field throws. Or he doesn’t want to run as much anymore.
All claims can have some semblance of truth, but the first two didn’t seem to hinder the offense when the going was good. The scheme, as wide receiver DeVonta Smith said Sunday, was essentially the same since 2021.
There was more nuance than that. The system evolved to become more run-based. Moore brought in some new passing concepts in 2024, but some were never used. The Eagles could rest on their talent more than most.
But they rolled it back again in 2025 as running back Saquon Barkley said on Monday — similar to how they did in 2023 — and defenses caught up. And Patullo, as it increasingly became clear, wasn’t able to consistently dial up sustainable drives. He showed his acumen in the red zone, but getting there was often a battle.
If there was a conflict between Hurts and Patullo that went public, it was over designed quarterback runs. Hurts didn’t originally deny reports that he didn’t want to run as much, but when asked last week about how that factored into his good health this season, he suggested that it wasn’t his doing.
“The approach this year, and the way the games have been called with this coordinator — with Coach KP — it’s just kind of gone that way,” Hurts said. “I’ve taken it in stride and [am] giving my best with the position they’ve put me in.”
It’s hard to believe that Hurts doesn’t have a say in those conversations. He has said his influence has steadily increased. Some team sources have said it’s much greater than has been conveyed. But if he has been overpowering coaches, isn’t that as much of an indictment of Sirianni and Patullo as it is the quarterback?
Hurts was asked Monday how comfortable he had been with being uncomfortable in the offense.
“I think that’s the essence of what my career has been,” Hurts said. “Can’t say that every situation I’ve been in has been the most comfortable, but I’ve been able to find my way out of it and find ways to win and find ways to success. And so that’s a part of growth, and I’ve never run away from growth.”
Hurts has progressed. He’s better as a drop-back passer. He’s better at reading coverages. He’s better vs. the blitz. But in his growth as an NFL quarterback, he may have lost sight of how his mobility made him dynamic.
“He is not who he thinks he is,” an Eagles source said.
Teammates openly call him “Lil Jordan” in reference to his relationship with Michael Jordan, being one of the faces of the Air Jordan brand, and wanting to emulate and be the NFL version of the iconic basketball player. It’s a slight tease and Hurts rolls with it, several players said.
He is an easy target. No one faces as much scrutiny. And some of the internal forces against him seem to be holding his famously stoic demeanor against him. He isn’t the most cuddly creature.
But he has taken steps in that regard, as well. When A.J. Brown made it apparent he was frustrated with Hurts earlier in the season, he went to the receiver first to clear the air, two sources close to the situation said.
“That was mostly about not being on the same page,” one source said.
It took a while, but Hurts and Brown, whose friendship dates back almost a decade, have smoothed things over off the field. It’s unclear if they’ll be on the field together next season, although the quarterback intimated that he wants the receiver back.
“A.J. and I have talked. We’re in a good, great place,” Hurts said. “I know you all can talk to him and ask.”
The last sentence was a sly reference to Brown not talking to reporters in over a month. He again wasn’t available during locker clean-out day.
Hurts, meanwhile, didn’t miss a media requirement all season. He’s heard the criticisms and he’s hardly ever thrown shade toward a teammate, coach, or otherwise. Maybe he could have taken some of the arrows for Patullo.
But that stagecoach has departed. There will be a new coordinator in town soon enough. Hurts wouldn’t say how much influence he’ll have over the decision. He still may not be especially approachable, but Roseman, Sirianni, and Lurie have his number.
“Overall, my line is always open,” Hurts said. “And so however involved or whatever level of inquiry I [have], I’ll definitely be available. Ultimately, I put my focus on controlling the things I can.”
He hired an overmatched offensive coordinator, watched his franchise quarterback regress, and did nothing to curtail the serial insubordination of A.J. Brown, then oversaw an offense that delivered the Eagles’ worst playoff loss in 22 years.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t do a good enough job,” Sirianni said, “and that starts with me.”
For the last two seasons, Brown frequently has criticized the passing game both in person and on social media. This came to a head when Brown called the offensive issues a “[expletive]-show” on Nov. 11.
Later that week, owner Jeffrey Lurie had to step in and muzzle the wide receiver. At practice. In public.
Some folks consider Sirianni to be a brilliant coach. Really? Do you think Andy Reid or Bill Belichick would have needed Clark Hunt or Robert Kraft to come to practice to muzzle Tyreek Hill or Randy Moss?
The enduring image of the offseason surely will be Sirianni, Patullo, and Hurts on the sideline during a timeout discussing the final play of the final drive on Sunday. As Patullo spoke to what appeared to be a befuddled and reluctant Hurts, Sirianni stood there, mostly silent, looking like a cross between a deer in headlights and a dog hearing a high-pitched whistle.
More and more, Sirianni seems less a coaching savant and more a dude who happens to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the best rosters in Eagles history.
Culture creatures
Since Lurie’s admonishment to Brown, and in violation of league rules, Brown has boycotted the media. That included Sunday’s game and Monday’s locker clean-out. As he did so often this season, he left his teammates to clean up his mess.
It was unprofessional — but then, unprofessionalism always has been an issue during Sirianni’s five-year tenure. He sets that tone and creates that culture.
When the Eagles won in Kansas City in 2023, he taunted Chiefs fans as he walked up the tunnel.
I like the Eagles and their coach but this might not turn out for them like they think it will in the end. pic.twitter.com/uRPwK5yMsp
When the Eagles beat the Browns at home in the middle of the 2024 season, Sirianni taunted Eagles fans as he left the field, then, incredibly, brought his three young children to what was certain to be a fractious postgame news conference.
Eagles HC Nick Sirianni appears to have some words towards the crowd as the clocked ticked down in the Philly victory. pic.twitter.com/XILkMvVamD
Sirianni issued an apology after that incident, but, two weeks ago, after the Eagles won in Buffalo, Sirianni taunted Bills fans as he walked up the tunnel — a taunt that drew a side-eye eye roll from Brown, who was walking beside him.
On Sunday, he charged down the sideline to hurry Brown off the field, then had a few choice words for Brown, who barked back at him, then, a few moments later, tried to get after Sirianni again.
Another look at the exchange between AJ Brown and HC Nick Sirianni on the sideline. pic.twitter.com/Syn0hr0MFK
This ended the lost season nicely, considering it began when defensive tackle Jalen Carter, having walked toward the Cowboys huddle to taunt a young lineman, then spat on Dak Prescott and was ejected.
It’s hard to blame the players. After all, why should they be expected to control themselves if their coach can’t control himself?
Focus
Left tackle Jordan Mailata, the team’s de facto spokesman and often the adult in the room, was asked both at midseason and after Sunday’s loss about the Eagles’ biggest issue. Each time, his answer was the same:
“Focus.”
Another clear measurable of a lack of discipline: penalties.
In 2024, the Eagles committed 103 penalties for 793 yards, 37 of them pre-snap penalties. In 2025, they committed 117 penalties for 1,073 yards, 42 of them pre-snap calls. Those are increases of 14%, 35%, and 14%, respectively.
This is a team that was expected to defend a Super Bowl title.
This was a disaster.
Sirianni’s disaster.
That’s why it’s amazing how little culpability has fallen at Sirianni’s feet.
Granted, Patullo didn’t take advantage of his first OC opportunity … but, after losing at home to the Bears in Game 13, Sirianni inserted himself into the game-planning process. After Sirianni’s insertion, the Eagles played three playoff teams. They averaged just 17 points.
Hurts, mired in self-preservation mode, ran the ball 33% less often this season than his previous three seasons and scored only eight rushing touchdowns after averaging 14 the three previous seasons. Patullo makes the calls, but the buck stops with Nick.
Brown dropped two passes in Sunday’s wild-card loss to the visiting 49ers and, during the regular season, too often seemed … indifferent? Disengaged?
“I have a special relationship with him,” Sirianni said after Sunday’s dustup.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had a critical drop in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NFC wild-card game.
If that’s true, then Sirianni needed to mobilize that connection, because Brown just had the worst of his four seasons as an Eagle.
There were other issues.
Saquon Barkley’s rushing total dropped from 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns to 1,140 yards (865 fewer yards), and seven touchdowns (six fewer scores). For context, only 21 backs gained at least 865 yards this season and/or scored more than six touchdowns.
The offensive line regressed, and while injuries to Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson, and Cam Jurgens limited their performance and availability, the performance of their backups left much to be desired.
At any rate, now that it’s over and the distractions have faded, we can better assess Sirianni’s role in the lost season of 2025. The football world will zoom out to the “30,000-foot view,” as Sirianni likes to call his CEO style of coaching.
What they see will not be pretty.
None of this is irredeemable. Sirianni is still a newish head coach, only five years in, and, at 44, he’s a relatively young man.
It’s the first time he’s been in a situation dealing with overpaid divas who won him a Super Bowl.
Maybe, if he’s in this situation again, he’ll act the way a head coach should act.
A dramatic end to the Eagles’ campaign for a Super Bowl repeat could bring some dramatic changes to the team in the coming days, weeks, and months.
But less than 24 hours after the 23-19 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Jalen Hurts said he wasn’t ready to declare whether he hoped to see offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo return for a second season.
“It’s too soon to think about that,” Hurts said Monday afternoon during the Eagles’ locker cleanout. “I put my trust in Howie [Roseman], Nick [Sirianni], and Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie.”
The offense’s shortcomings, fresh off the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning season, reflected poorly on Patullo, the 44-year-old, first-time offensive coordinator. He had a wealth of talent at his disposal on the most expensive offense in the league that returned 10 of 11 starters from the championship run.
Yet the group underperformed and often collapsed in the second halves of games, the latest example coming Sunday night against the 49ers. The offense finished the regular season ranked No. 19 in the league in scoring, No. 24 in total yards, and No. 13 in expected points added per play, which measures the average points added by the offense on each play.
The Eagles fared worse in each category compared to last season. Still, Hurts said that any discussion about impending changes to the Eagles’ offensive coaching staff or personnel would not occur in his parting meeting with team officials on Monday.
“No, I’d speak more so on just having a home base of what we do, who we are, and obviously we really made an effort to establish an identity along the way,” Hurts said. “Ultimately, it was a bit too late. Always got a lot of confidence when we step out on that field with this group, with this team. It just wasn’t our turn this time around.”
Hurts used “home base” as another way to say “identity,” something that the Eagles struggled to establish throughout the season. He said the team needed to find its “comfort zone of where you lay your head,” the go-to concepts that the Eagles could execute at a high level, no matter the caliber of defense they faced.
Where is the Eagles’ home base going forward? Hurts said the team has time to figure it out. Ultimately, though, the quarterback emphasized that he just wants to win.
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and quarterback Jalen Hurts never seemed to get into a rhythm this season.
“You play the game to play for championships and put yourself in those opportunities to win championships,” Hurts said. “And so, obviously, that starts with having cohesiveness and great sequencing and having a flow where everyone’s on the same page and going out there and doing that.”
Hurts is no stranger to change. He has had six offensive play-callers in his NFL career, including Doug Pederson, Sirianni, Shane Steichen, Brian Johnson, Kellen Moore, and now Patullo. In the aftermath of Johnson’s 2024 firing, Hurts said that he longed for continuity at the position.
But he acknowledged Monday that he has embraced the revolving door of offensive coordinators and translated those changes into postseason appearances. After all, the Eagles won a Super Bowl in Moore’s lone year as the offensive coordinator.
“The changes have not prevented us from having an opportunity to go on championship runs, and so with all the changes and with all the things that have gone and have changed over time, we still found ourselves in the playoffs, and we still found ourselves in positions to be in the tournament and play in the tournament,” Hurts said. “I don’t like the trend of wild-card [loss], big-time [Super Bowl appearance], wild-card [loss], big-time [Super Bowl win], and wild-card [loss]. … So competitively as a quarterback, as a leader, that’s a big focus of mine, trying to break that.”
Hurts will look to return the Eagles to their winning ways next season, when he embarks upon his sixth year as the full-time starting quarterback. Given his track record and his importance to the team, he said he has a degree of influence in important matters concerning the offense.
“I think overall, my line is always open, and so however involved or whatever level inquiry I am, I’ll definitely be available,” Hurts said.
Those important matters include the roster. While 10 of the 11 starters on offense are under contract for next season (tight end Dallas Goedert is a pending unrestricted free agent), Roseman may opt to make some changes to its core.
Could A.J. Brown’s future in Philadelphia come into question? The 28-year-old receiver is under contract through 2029. He had expressed his dissatisfaction with the offense earlier in the season, but he has not spoken publicly since the Dec. 8 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Hurts did not directly answer a question about whether he wants Brown back in 2026.
Jalen Hurts says that he and wide receiver A.J. Brown are in a “great place.”
“A. J. and I will talk,” Hurts said. “We’re in a good, great place.”
Many of the team’s prospective changes are out of his hands. Repeatedly, Hurts acknowledged that he must focus on the details within his control, especially his own performance. While he seeks a “home base” for the offense, he said he has never run away from the growth that comes with embracing the responsibilities he finds uncomfortable as a quarterback.
With the extra time that comes with an abrupt playoff exit, Hurts said he will do a “deep dive” on how he can improve as a player and as a leader before the Eagles restart once more next season.
“Obviously, every year is different,” Hurts said. “Changes are inevitable in a number of ways, but my focus is on growth. My focus is on improvement, and my focus is on embracing the challenges that come with where I am in my career.”
