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PHILADELPHIA — It took a year longer than hoped, but the Philadelphia Eagles appear positioned to land their defensive coordinator of choice.
After mutually parting ways with the Miami Dolphins, Vic Fangio will become the Eagles’ new defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN.
Fangio served as an advisor for Philadelphia in advance of its Super Bowl appearance against the Kansas City Chiefs in February. The Eagles hoped Fangio would succeed Jonathan Gannon but by the time they knew Gannon was becoming head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, Fangio was too far down the line with the Dolphins to reverse course.
Now they appear to have their man and, safe to say, the 65-year-old Fangio has a sizable mess to clean up.
The 2023 Eagles defense was unrecognizable to a city that has long attached its identity to that side of the ball — to Chuck Bednarik and Reggie White and Brian Dawkins; to hard hits and goal-line stands and iron wills. This most recent iteration will be remembered for missed tackles and blown assignments and an epic collapse down the stretch.
The Eagles allowed the third-most points per game during the regular season (25.2) and ranked 30th in red-zone and third-down defense. They allowed 35 passing touchdowns, second-most in the league.
They demoted defensive coordinator Sean Desai in his first year on the job when the team was 10-3, replacing him with Matt Patricia. That made things worse, as the defense yielded 30 points on average over its last four games, including 32 points in a wild-card playoff loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that marked their sixth loss in seven games.
Now Desai and Patricia are both out, Fangio appears on the verge of being in, and a critical offseason awaits.
A veteran presence, for one.
Following a loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 10, cornerback Darius Slay brought up the career arc of Gannon — who had some struggles in his first year as a defensive coordinator, flourished in Year 2 to help fuel a Super Bowl run, then promptly became head coach of the Cardinals — when assessing the performance of Desai.
“Everybody was hollering at Gannon his first year here. Nobody liked Gannon. And the next thing you know, No. 1 pass defense, top-10 run defense, now he’s a head coach. It might take time,” Slay said. “But we’ve got to get it right, right now. We’ve got to get going.”
That was Desai’s last game as defensive playcaller.
Patience is hard to come by when operating in a perceived Super Bowl window. And it’s even harder to find when the head coach must win now to get off the hot seat, which is the position Sirianni appears to find himself in. It makes sense, then, that they would want Fangio — someone with instant credibility and tried and true philosophies who could shorten the learning curve and, at the very least, get the unit back to functioning at a competent level. Having a head coach of the defense, like Jim Schwartz was for Doug Pederson during the team’s lone Super Bowl title run, has served the organization well in the past.
And it’s no secret that the front office prefers Fangio’s scheme, which is designed in part to limit explosive plays. Desai studied under Fangio in Chicago, and both Desai and Gannon modeled their defenses in part after Fangio’s. Now they have the original.
