Eagles coach Nick Sirianni provides more insight into his thinking, but not into his Carson Wentz-Jalen Hurts preference

New Eagles coach Nick Sirianni took another shot at introducing himself Monday, in a 15-minute interview with 94WIP Morning Show host Angelo Cataldi.

Given a cozy warmup by Cataldi, who asked what being interviewed and hired to coach the Eagles was like and invited Sirianni to talk about coming from a family of coaches in western New York, Sirianni sounded less nervous than he had on Friday. That was when the Eagles introduced Sirianni in a video news conference with more than 50 prospective questioners, many of whom wanted answers to difficult questions having to do with the future of quarterback Carson Wentz.

But the bottom line didn’t change much. When Cataldi asked how Sirianni plans to handle Wentz and 2020 rookie Jalen Hurts, who started the final four games of the season after Wentz was benched, Sirianni said he envisions competition all over the roster. He did not say he would hold an open competition for the starting QB job.

Sirianni did talk, obliquely, about the process of arriving at a QB decision.

“We’ve watched a little bit of tape to this point now, so we’re into that process of evaluating those players,” he said. This was at least a small step up from Friday, when Sirianni said he hadn’t watched QB tape yet and hadn’t thought about a timeline for establishing a starter.

“I think we have really good talent evaluators, and one of the things that’s really important to me as I’m building the staff is, ‘Can they get the player better?’ ... Once we get a player in the door, can the coach get him better with the fundamentals and technique? And can they help us get the right player in the door by evaluating that talent?” Sirianni said.

“The first part of this is getting the coaches in there to help with that process. Yes, I’m watching a little bit of tape and I’m coming up with some thoughts here, but it’s a group effort, right? It’s [new offensive coordinator] Shane Steichen coming up with his thoughts, and I know he can evaluate talent. And it’s [new passing game coordinator] Kevin Patullo and [new quarterbacks coach] Brian Johnson coming up with their thoughts. And this is every position ... evaluating our thoughts on all these guys, going through a thorough evaluation.”

Sirianni said that after he got his coaching staff entirely in place, then the task would be “in the coming days, weeks, months, just figuring out what we have on this team and how it fits what we want to do.”

Cataldi pressed Sirianni on whether this meant the QB job was open.

“Everybody in this situation competing. Players, coaches, for every position,” Sirianni said.

It wasn’t clear exactly how coaches would compete for positions; most likely, Sirianni’s wording wasn’t as precise as he would have liked, which also was a problem Friday.

In the Monday interview, Sirianni said of the two-week process from vacationing with his family in Florida as the Indianapolis offensive coordinator to becoming head coach of the Eagles: “It’s been crazy in a good way.”

“Just a lot of change, but super excited to be here, in a great city like Philadelphia, and look forward to being here for a while,” he said.

Asked about being mentored by Frank Reich, the Colts’ head coach who was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator for Super Bowl LII, Sirianni said Reich was like a big brother to him. They spent six years together total, three on the Chargers staff before Reich’s two seasons with the Eagles, and three since then in Indianapolis.

“In San Diego, I learned a ton from Frank about the fundamentals and technique of the quarterback play. And I think I taught him a lot — I know I taught him a lot — about the fundamentals of wide receiver play. So we really meshed there,” Sirianni said.

Sirianni said that when he reunited with Reich, seeing him as a head coach, “Man, is he a special leader. I feel like I got my Ph.D. in leadership from Frank.”

Cataldi did a good job of turning the Reich conversation to Wentz, noting how well Wentz played under Reich in 2017.

Sirianni said when he joined Reich in Indianapolis, with the new Colts head coach coming in fresh from Super Bowl LII, “we studied a ton, a ton, a ton of the Eagles” in building the Indianapolis offense. Sirianni acknowledged that he has seen a lot of Wentz tape, especially from 2017, and knows “that he’s a special talent.” He said he looks forward “to working with him, and Jalen.”

Cataldi asked Sirianni how he approaches a player such as Wentz whose play has deteriorated.

“First, it’s identifying the problem,” Sirianni said. “Is he thinking slow? Do we have to simplify it?”

Sirianni said that once the problem is identified, the next step is “how you approach it.”

“Some players, you can really get after, and they crave it,” he said, recalling that his father, a high school coach in Jamestown, N.Y., would yell at him “every day,” because his father knew that was how to reach him.

“But some people don’t [respond well to that]. ... It’s gotta be the arm around them, ‘I’d like for you to do this, or this.’ But what’s important in all of them is that the standard’s the same, for every single player, right? It doesn’t waver, right? We need to teach that player the standard of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. ... That’s where you create the relationships that are so important.”