Eagles fire defensive coordinator Sean Desai

The Eagles have fired defensive coordinator Sean Desai, NFL sources confirmed to The Inquirer on Sunday night.

The NFL Network was first to report the news. NFL sources also told The Inquirer that coach Nick Sirianni did the firing, an indication that the Eagles head coach will likely be back in his role next season.

Additionally, senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia, who was not under contract beyond this season, plans to explore other opportunities, an NFL source confirmed to The Inquirer. Patricia was the Eagles’ defensive play-caller from Week 15 on.

Desai, 40, was in his first year with the Eagles and his second season as an NFL defensive coordinator. After the Arizona Cardinals hired Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as their head coach last February, Sirianni replaced him with Desai, who had spent the 2022 season with the Seattle Seahawks as an associate head coach on defense.

The Eagles started 10-3 with Desai responsible for calling defensive plays. At the end of that span, after back-to-back losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles ranked No. 27 in the league in points against (24.7 per game) and 21st in yards against (353.9 per game).

» READ MORE: How the Eagles’ third-down defense was taken away from Sean Desai before his demotion

Situationally, the Eagles were especially struggling, with the league’s worst third-down defense (48.1% conversion rate). They ranked No. 19 in fourth-down defense (51.9% conversion) and 30th in red-zone defense (70.5%). Going into their Week 15 game against the Seahawks, Sirianni opted to reassign defensive play-calling duties to Patricia. Desai remained defensive coordinator in name only for the remainder of the season.

Desai, who hails from Shelton, Conn., started his coaching career at Temple. From 2006-09, Desai served as a graduate assistant, eventually earning a promotion to outside linebackers coach in 2010. Desai completed a doctorate in educational administration at Temple.

He got his first break in the NFL with the Chicago Bears as a defensive quality control coach initially under head coach Marc Trestman, serving in that role from 2013-18. Desai became the Bears’ safeties coach from 2019-20 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2021 before departing to join the Seahawks.

Patricia, 49, was hired in April after spending most of his NFL coaching career with the New England Patriots in numerous roles, including defensive coordinator (2012-17) and most recently as a senior football adviser and offensive line coach (2022). He was also the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2018-20. Patricia assumed the role of Eagles defensive play-caller with the aspiration of adapting his own ideas to the existing defense, ultimately aiming to help his personnel play “fast and aggressive and give them a chance to win,” he said on Dec. 21.

However, the defense showed little to no improvement and took a step back in most notable categories as the team went 1-4 in that span. The Eagles defense finished the regular season ranked No. 30 in points against (25.1 per game) and 26th in yards against (356.1 per game). The Eagles also finished second to last in third-down conversion percentage (46.4%), 25th in fourth-down percentage (55.9%), and 30th in red-zone percentage (66.1%).

Some players, including edge rusher Haason Reddick, did not sugarcoat the challenges of the midseason transition from Desai to Patricia.

“It’s a hard thing to do,” Reddick said Jan. 4. “But it’s our job at the end of the day. So there’s no complaints about it. But yes, that was definitely a hard thing, right?

“You spent so much time with one DC, and learning a new DC at that, at the beginning of the year, and trying to learn everything that he wants us to do, his terminology, the way that he calls things. And then, towards the end of the season, we switch.”

After the first three games with Patricia at the helm of the defense (1-2 in that span), Sirianni said he didn’t regret making the switch.

“Everything that I do, every decision that I make, is with the thought of the team first and what is best for the team,” Sirianni said Jan. 1. “The adjustments that I made a couple weeks ago were in attempts to do what was best for the team, and I still believe that.”

Desai’s firing and Patricia’s departure are the first known changes to the Eagles’ coaching staff after the team finished the regular season 11-6 and suffered a 32-9 wild-card playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Offensive coordinator Brian Johnson is interviewing for head-coaching openings, most recently with the Atlanta Falcons and the Tennessee Titans. The Eagles aren’t likely to address Johnson’s status until his various interview processes are concluded. The NFL Network reported Saturday that Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter could be a possible replacement for Johnson.

If Johnson were to earn a head-coaching gig elsewhere, the Eagles would receive a third-round compensatory draft pick for two years, according to the Rooney Rule. This aspect of the rule was approved in November 2020 as a means of rewarding clubs that developed minority talent into general managers or head coaches in the NFL.

Staff writer Jeff McLane contributed to this article.