Howie Roseman stands by Nick Sirianni, pointing to his ‘record of success’ with the Eagles

While the Eagles will go into next season with new offensive and defensive coordinators for a second straight year, the man at the helm of the coaching staff will remain at his post.

Nick Sirianni is set to return for his fourth season as Eagles head coach, which was confirmed at his news conference Wednesday with general manager Howie Roseman. Despite the Eagles’ dismal 1-6 finish in the final stretch of their season, which includes their 32-9 wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Roseman expressed confidence in Sirianni moving forward.

“I’ve seen it been done,” Roseman said. “I had the opportunity to work with him and I’ve seen what he has done winning games. Winning games, putting us in a position where we’re competing for a world championship. Putting us in a position where every year we’re in the playoff race and giving us an opportunity with the team to do that. Those things are hard to find.”

Roseman and Sirianni’s annual end-of-season news conference occurred later than usual, leaving more time for speculation surrounding the coach’s job security to fester on the heels of an 11-6 season in which both the offense and the defense regressed in a number of statistical categories.

» READ MORE: Inside the Eagles’ offensive stats: Problems against the blitz, trouble on Jalen Hurts’ runs

Roseman explained that after the Eagles’ wild-card loss, the team gave everyone off the next day. For the next couple of days, Roseman and Sirianni had meetings with players and coaches. Roseman said that the snowstorm on Friday closed the office, although an NFL source told The Inquirer that Sirianni and owner Jeffrey Lurie met that day.

Sirianni described the meeting as “business as usual,” adding that he did not feel he needed to sell Lurie on his vision for the Eagles. In the meeting, Sirianni said he discussed the progression of the team, where it’s going, what it did well, and what it didn’t do well. However, Sirianni said that going into this offseason, he’s “hungry” to prove Lurie right for maintaining his faith in the 42-year-old coach.

“In my mind, you’d better believe I’m thinking, ‘How do I re-prove myself,’ right?” Sirianni said. “I was a young coach that Mr. Lurie and Howie and this organization trusted to give the job to. I had to prove myself that this guy can lead the organization like they asked me to. And I had to prove myself from then.

“You ask me that question, did I have to sell my vision? No, because again, it was business as usual. But you’d better believe that I’m thinking after that 1-6 finish, after starting the way we started and doing the things that we’ve done in the past, that I’m thinking, ‘I want to prove them right again.’ And we’re going to prove them right.”

Roseman said that he and Sirianni then went into the weekend trying to “figure out a plan to get better.” That plan evidently included firing defensive coordinator Sean Desai, deciding not to bring back senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia, and moving on from Brian Johnson as offensive coordinator.

The search is underway for new offensive and defensive coordinators for a second straight season. Last year, after former offensive coordinator Shane Steichen was hired by the Indianapolis Colts as their head coach in February, the Eagles replaced him with Johnson. They also transitioned defensive coordinators from Jonathan Gannon, who took the Arizona Cardinals’ head-coaching gig, to Desai.

» READ MORE: Report: Eagles ‘expected’ to hire Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator

Sirianni said that the next offensive coordinator will be “bringing in a scheme” for the team to be able to function within. That would be a departure from how the Eagles have run Sirianni’s offensive scheme the last three years, with the offensive coordinator serving as the play-caller. Still, Sirianni said that his role next season will be “very similar to what’s going on right now.”

“My job is to be the head coach of the team, not the head coach of the offense, not the head coach of the defense, not the head coach of the special teams, but the head coach of the football team,” Sirianni said. “And so that’s building the culture, that’s making sure the culture’s working with our five core values, taking every day at a time.

“We’re not coming up with new core values. We may shuffle where the things are that are important, and the most important, but that’s diving into that, building the culture, and having a relationship with the guys on the football team. Because I know when I have that connection with the guys on the football team, that’s when the culture is working, and working at a high level, and then that’s when our connection with the players and then their connection with each other works well, too.”

Sirianni admitted that the offense got “stale” during the 1-6 stretch, ushering in a need for new ideas from outside the building this offseason. The Eagles’ success running run-pass options and leveraging the designed quarterback run game in 2022 was met with answers from opposing defenses this season. The Eagles were never able to establish an identity offensively beyond relying on individual talent like A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to win one-on-one matchups on the perimeter.

Still, through three years, Sirianni has a 34-17 record in the regular season and a 2-3 record in the playoffs. Among full-time Eagles head coaches, Sirianni’s .667 regular-season winning percentage is the best in franchise history. Sirianni also has earned the most wins by any head coach in their first three years with the Eagles, according to the team.

Although Roseman emphasized that he wasn’t pleased with the 1-6 skid, he pointed to the fact that the Eagles were 26-5 in their previous 31 games, acknowledging that it’s hard to find a head coach with that “record of success” in the league. Now, Roseman said that every conversation he has with Sirianni centers on how they can move forward together.

“I think as we go forward, doing this together in a way that continues to get the best possible people we can on and off the field, for me, that’s my job, to make sure that we have that on the field, and my group is as strong as we possibly can get and I know Nick’s committed to that in his group,” Roseman said.