Nick Sirianni will ‘always root for’ Cardinals’ Jonathan Gannon ... except this week.

Jonathan Gannon didn’t leave Philadelphia on the best terms when he was hired as head coach in Arizona.

The Eagles had just lost the Super Bowl, allowing the Chiefs to score 17 points in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback, and Gannon was the architect of the defense. Not to mention the tampering violations surrounding his hiring in Arizona, which resulted in the Eagles receiving the 66th overall draft pick in 2023 in exchange for the 94th overall pick in 2023 and a fifth-rounder in 2024.

But that hasn’t affected the relationship between Gannon and Nick Sirianni, who spoke highly of each other ahead of Gannon’s return to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

“He’s helped me a good deal, moving throughout this year with some different things,” Gannon said Tuesday. “He’s always a resource for me, obviously we’re extremely tight, but it’ll be the Eagles vs. the Cardinals: Compete, compete, compete.”

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Sirianni, who lost both of his coordinators to head coaching jobs last offseason, said that despite the rough ending, he’s grateful to Gannon for helping bring a lot of special times to Philadelphia during his two years as defensive coordinator.

“I have a great deal of respect for Jonathan and the coach that he is and the person that he is,” Sirianni said Tuesday. “I’m looking forward to going against him this weekend. You’ll have to ask them, but I know the players that I’ve talked to feel the same way. Obviously we didn’t finish the job last year, which all of us have the taste in our mouths of ‘Dang, wish we’d have finished the job,’ but there were still a lot of special moments … and Jonathan Gannon was a big part of that.

“Any time he thanks me for the opportunity or for being here, I always in return thank him, because his service to the team and the special things we had done while he was the defensive coordinator here was enough payback for me tenfold. I value that relationship with him, I will always root for Coach Gannon … but this will be the week I will not be rooting for him, obviously.”

Sirianni and Gannon coached together from 2018 to 2022, first with the Indianapolis Colts and then with the Eagles.

Since Gannon’s departure, the Eagles defense has struggled, with Sean Desai first taking over as defensive coordinator and then Matt Patricia stepping in to call plays ahead of the Birds’ matchups with the Seahawks and Giants.

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Despite his controversial exit, Gannon said he is “not really concerned” about the reaction from Philadelphia fans, and he is excited to be back in the city as the visitor with the 3-12 Cardinals.

“It’s a really good football team,” Gannon said. “It’ll be good to see Nick and the coaches over there, and Howie [Roseman], but just like any other week, when the whistle blows, it’s compete, compete, compete.”