Eagles hire Seahawks’ Sean Desai as defensive coordinator, creating some mystery with the scheme

INDIANAPOLIS — The Eagles hired Sean Desai as their defensive coordinator, the team announced on Tuesday.

Desai most recently served as the Seattle Seahawks’ associate head coach and defensive assistant during the 2022 season. He met with the Eagles for a second interview on Monday in Philadelphia. Desai, along with a handful of Eagles assistant coaches, then traveled on Tuesday morning to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine.

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Desai, 39, succeeds Jonathan Gannon, who was hired as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach after Super Bowl LVII. Desai previously held the coordinator role during the 2021 season with the Chicago Bears. Before that, Desai spent several years working closely with new Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, whom the Eagles temporarily hired as an assistant this season.

“His overall knowledge of football, his football IQ is extremely high,” coach Nick Sirianni said of Desai. “He has great detail. He’s a really sharp coach. I’m excited he’s on our staff.”

Desai’s coaching career began at Temple, where he worked as a defensive and special teams coach under Al Golden from 2006-10. Desai, from Shelton, Conn., earned his doctorate in educational administration while he was at Temple. Aside from his stints with the Bears, Seahawks, and Temple, Desai has also served as an assistant at Miami and Boston College.

In the 2022 season, the Eagles finished second in total defense (301.5 yards allowed per game), including first in passing defense (179.8) and 17th in rushing defense (121.6). The team led the league in sacks with 70, which ranks third in NFL history.

Desai joined the Bears staff in 2013 and served as defensive quality control coach through 2018. He was promoted to safeties coach for 2019 and 2020. During 2021, Desai’s lone season as Bears defensive coordinator, Chicago ranked sixth in total defense and third in passing defense, while Robert Quinn led the NFC that season with a career-high 18½ sacks. A son of immigrants, Desai was the first Indian-American coordinator in NFL history.

Desai is a noted Fangio disciple, although he also spent time working with accomplished defensive coaches Chuck Pagano, John Fox, and Mel Tucker. Sirianni said Desai’s hiring presents an unknown factor for opposing teams since his defense will look a little different from Gannon’s. The Eagles have seven defensive starters, eight including veteran pass-rusher Brandon Graham, who are pending free agents. They also possess two first-round draft picks.

“One thing that we definitely have now is what we had our first year going into it,” Sirianni said. “We have [created] a little bit of unknown [for opposing teams]. Whoever we play first game can go and watch Sean’s stuff from Chicago or Seattle, but one thing we have is uncertainty again going into that first game. We’ll hide some things in the preseason.

“What I did like [about Desai] was some of the similarities that we’ve been doing on a very successful defense with different coverages, run blitzes, things like that.”

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Before hiring Desai, the Eagles interviewed multiple external candidates, including new Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Rams defensive backs coach Chris Shula, Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and Georgia co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann.

“My job was to go through the process, cast a wide net, and get to know different people,” Sirianni said.

The Eagles also considered defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson as an internal candidate for the job. Over the past several days, Wilson received endorsements from multiple Eagles, including top cornerback Darius Slay, who tweeted: “Man with all these new coaches getting jobs.. I kno my guy Dennard Wilson should be a DC in the NFL!!”

Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson posted his own tweet while quoting Slay’s: “No cap D-Will Damn Sure Deserve it !! He help me elevate my game most def!”

When asked about Wilson’s current standing with the team, Sirianni said he could not guarantee Wilson would return for the coming season.

“At the end of the day, there is some experience Sean has had calling it,” Sirianni said. “I’ve got to do what’s best for the team, and I thought Sean was the best guy for the job. ... We’ll go through that with everybody as we continue on. We’ll ask, ‘Does the staff dynamic fit? Does Sean have anybody in mind?’

“Dennard is a great football coach. He’s done an outstanding job. If he’s still our defensive backs coach, we’ll be lucky to have him. But we’re not [at] that process yet. … I think the world of Dennard and how good of a football coach he is.”