Ralph Vacchiano
NFC East Reporter
Nick Sirianni knew it wouldn’t be easy to replace defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon after Super Bowl LVII. He just never imagined it would turn into such a disaster. The Philadelphia Eagles defense became one of the NFL’s worst. Gannon’s replacement even got demoted in December.
Now, as Sirianni tries to clean up that wreckage, he’s turning to the man he probably should have hired all along.
Vic Fangio, one of the most respected defensive minds in the NFL, is expected to become the Eagles new defensive coordinator, according to a report — and it would be a home-run hire for Sirianni and the Eagles. The 65-year-old defensive whiz has coached a string of top-10 defenses in a career that has spanned five decades. And he’s the architect of the two-high safety scheme that the Eagles tried (and failed) to play last year under defensive coordinator Sean Desai.
Desai is a Fangio disciple, having coached with him in Chicago, so his hiring made sense at the time. But the truth is that if the Eagles had their way, he never would have been their defensive coordinator this season. Fangio quietly spent much of last season as a consultant with the Eagles, working with both the offense and defense during their Super Bowl run. He was even viewed as a likely replacement if Gannon got a head coaching job after the season.
But as the coaching carousel spun, it looked like Gannon would return to the Eagles. It wasn’t until Super Bowl week that word got out that the Arizona Cardinals had him as their top target, and they didn’t make it official until Feb. 14. By then, Fangio had grown tired of waiting and had already agreed to become the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator instead.
Fangio, a native of Dunmore, Pennsylvania — about a two-hour drive from Philly — got out of his deal with the Dolphins on Wednesday, after taking their middling unit and turning it into the 10th-ranked defense in…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/vic-fangio-right-man-to-fix-eagles-defense-just-one-year-too-late
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Publish date : 2024-01-25 00:23:56
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