Nick Sirianni says he needs time to evaluate Eagles roster, ‘top-notch QBs’ Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts

New Eagles coach Nick Sirianni didn’t offer any reassurance to disaffected quarterback Carson Wentz in Sirianni’s introductory news conference Friday, or many specifics of how he plans to move forward in fixing a team coming off a 4-11-1 season.

Sirianni, 39, seemed excited and maybe more than a bit nervous when he took center stage, after a nearly 16-minute introduction from team owner Jeffrey Lurie that included minute details of the team’s search process, well-wishes to former running backs coach Duce Staley, and observations about cultural polarization. Sirianni said he has talked to Wentz and Jalen Hurts, whom he called “top-notch quarterbacks,” but naming a starter, or having a timeframe to name a starter “hasn’t even crossed my mind yet.”

Lurie alluded to the team’s brain trust having spent 10 to 12 hours interviewing Sirianni, who emerged, Lurie said, from a 25-member field of candidates that was narrowed to 10 for interviews. Asked if Wentz’s puzzling decline last season was a major topic of that interview, Sirianni said “it was all on the table.” Asked if he could say that Wentz definitely will be an Eagle this coming season, Sirianni said he couldn’t say.

Sirianni said he’d had “a good conversation” with Wentz, and said new offensive coordinator Shane Steichen has spoken with Wentz as well.

Sirianni said he had “the same conversation” with Hurts. “I’m really excited to work with him,” Sirianni said. “He had meaningful snaps [as a rookie] that he played well in.”

Sirianni said his introductory conversations with players are mostly “getting to know the individual, besides football. … I know I’m going to learn a lot about him in football [watching film] this next week. But I wanted to know a little more about each player I’ve talked to, personally.”

Sirianni said that after he watches film from last season, he looks forward to “having open and honest conversations with each one of them [about] what I saw on the tape, and how all of us can improve.”

Asked if there would be an open competition for the starting QB role, Sirianni said: “That’s something we have to evaluate, I’m not ready to say that either way yet. We’re just evaluating our players, evaluating every position. … We don’t know any of these guys, really, yet, from what we’ve seen on tape so far, because we haven’t watched any. … Every position is going to be evaluated, and every position is going to be ‘open,’ I guess, to say, and we can’t wait to start watching the tape and seeing what our players can do.”

Wentz, 28, who would carry a $34 million dead salary cap charge if traded, was benched in favor of Hurts for the season’s final four games. Wentz is said to be contemplating whether he wants to start over elsewhere. Asked if he feels the Eagles-Wentz relationship can be saved, Sirianni said: “I can’t speak on that.”

Lurie did not take questions or mention the quarterbacking situation, and general manager Howie Roseman was not part of the news conference.

Sirianni said he plans to call plays, something he did not do in his previous job as the Indianapolis offensive coordinator under former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich.

He said he and Reich, who worked together in San Diego before Indianapolis, talked during games about what plays to call, though Reich made the ultimate decision. Sirianni said he doesn’t think he will have to make a big adjustment. He said that if the work during the week is detailed and comprehensive enough, “you’re going to be ready to call the game on Sunday.” though adjustments might be needed as circumstances change. He said that with the right support staff in place, “I’m more than ready, and excited to call a game here.”

Asked about his offensive philosophy, Sirianni said, “We’re going to be multiple. We can attack multiple ways.” He referenced having had Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, and Philip Rivers as the Colts’ starting quarterback the last three seasons. “Those three teams looked different. … They were all different in their own ways, of how we attacked defenses and how we played the game,” Sirianni said.

Sirianni said Steichen, with whom he worked on the Chargers staff for four years, “thinks about the game the way I think about the game. And Shane is a phenomenal offensive mind. … The way we think about the game is so similar, that’s going to be an easy transition for us. It’s like we’re starting on Day 15 instead of Day 1.”

He said Roseman will have control of the 53-man roster, as was the case in the coaching regime of Doug Pederson, and that Sirianni will control who is active on game day.

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Lurie praised the Eagles’ hiring process and thanked all the candidates who were interviewed.

He said he was “blown away by the level of expertise, the vision, the love for the game” the candidates all had.

Lurie focused on Sirianni’s ability to connect with players as the most important factor in choosing him. He called Sirianni “a very special communicator, not just a brilliant football IQ. … Somebody who connects with everybody.”

Later, when Sirianni outlined his core principles, the first he listed was “connect with each other.”

Lurie said that “the first step, I think, in being a great coach in modern football today, modern sports today, is to care very much about the players and coaches you work with, and everybody. … If you care, you can earn trust. If the caring is not real, if you’re not being genuine, players are too smart, and they see right through that, as they should. … That was a deal-breaker for me. … I don’t know if it’s the hidden sauce, but it’s what propels everything else.

“If you care, you can earn trust. If you earn trust, you can motivate. If you motivate, you can teach. It all spins from there in terms of improving a player’s performance, improving a team performance, increasing discipline, increasing accountability, and being able to really move off a status quo and advance whatever vision a coach and his staff have. And I think Nick has that, in very unique ways. … As you get to know him, I think you’ll see what we all see in that.”