Nick Sirianni was the most unlikely head coach candidate of the Philadelphia Eagles when the team fired Doug Pederson a week ago. The offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts is the Eagles’ latest head coach, confirms Jason La Canfora, CBS Sports NFL Insider.
Sirianni has served as the Colts ‘offensive coordinator for the past three years, all under Frank Reich, who was previously the Eagles’ offensive coordinator. Sirianni and Reich have a history coaching job outside of Indianapolis, as the two were with the San Diego Chargers from 2013 to 2015 – Sirianni was the coach of the quarterback when Reich was the attacking coordinator (2014 and 2015). The 39-year-old Sirianni also had a coaching staff under Todd Haley with the Kansas City Chiefs in various roles (2009 to 2012).
Sirianni was responsible for the rise of Philip Rivers in 2020, as the Colts quarterback completed 68% of his passes for 4,169 yards with 24 strikeouts to 11 interceptions (97.0 predecessors), while Indianapolis finished 11-5 and the playoffs achieved. Rivers improved its throw on target from 76.7% from the previous year to 77.2%. Although he was not a threat to run, Rivers tried to pass more than 15 runs than the previous year (his last year with the Chargers), and finished sixth in the NFL in run-pass options (370) . Rivers also cut his interception from last season from 20 to 11 and his gimmicks from eight to two.
The Colts finished eighth in the league in points per game (25.9) and 14th in yards per game (363.9) in those three seasons. Sirianni was attacking coordinator, and that was with three different quarterbacks in each year. With Sirianni to Philadelphia, the Colts could promote coach Marcus Brady to the attacking coordinator (or Sirianni could take Brady to Philadelphia).
Sirianni’s first task at the Eagles will be to correct designated fullback Carson Wentz, who was one of the worst signal callers in football in 2020. Wentz completed 64.4% of his passes and threw down for 81 touchdowns to just 21 interceptions from 2017 to 2019, putting it together a rating of 98.3. In 2020, Wentz was 24th out of 35 qualified passengers in the completion percentage (57.4%), 33rd in yard per attempt (6.0) and 34th place for passing (72.8). Only 70.4% of Wentz’s passes are considered ‘on-target’, which was 33rd in the league.
Hiring Sirianni is a gamble that could change the direction of the franchise, whether the Eagles choose Wentz or not. Not much is known about Sirianni, but not much is known about Andy Reid, when Philadelphia appointed him in 1999. That was good for the Eagles.