Nick Sirianni makes certain Eagles roles clear, but won’t disclose many starters or defensive plans

As has become his tradition, Nick Sirianni held a team meeting in the lead-up to Week 1 to talk at length about roles.

The Eagles coach started outlining each player’s role in front of their peers during his time in Indianapolis, taking inspiration from a conversation with former 76ers coach Doc Rivers several years ago.

“There’s nothing worse than when you don’t know exactly what you’re supposed to do and what the job description is,” Sirianni said during a Tuesday news conference. “... My whole point of roles is not everybody’s role is the same, but everybody’s role is important.”

Afterward, Sirianni announced the team’s captains for the season. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith were each voted as captains for the first time in their careers while Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Darius Slay, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, and Jake Elliott remain in place from last year.

The Eagles expanded their list of captains to accommodate the additions of Brown and Smith, the former entering his second year with the team and the latter going into his third year. The two receivers have become cornerstones of the team’s offense and each has a strong relationship with Hurts — Brown’s originating from a recruiting visit as a high schooler and Smith’s forged during their shared time at Alabama.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all because A.J. and DeVonta have special leadership qualities,” Sirianni said, “and play tremendous football, and they lead in their own way. So, I’m just really happy for them. Really happy for all the guys.”

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Sirianni is leaving the defensive depth chart up to interpretation as long as he can.

As the team begins its preparation for the season opener against the New England Patriots, the Eagles coach has been noncommittal about the rotation of players they’ve used at the linebacker and safety spots.

The first depth chart released by the team’s communication staff didn’t go much further, listing both Zach Cunningham and Christian Elliss at the single linebacker spot next to Nakobe Dean and Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans in the single safety spot opposite Reed Blankenship.

“There’s no need to yet,” Sirianni said about naming a starter at safety.

Edmunds and Evans both got plenty of work with the first-team defense throughout training camp. Edmunds got the first crack alongside Blankenship, who established himself as a surefire starter with a strong summer. Edmunds, 26, started 75 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last five seasons, including 15 last year.

Evans earned a bigger share of staring reps toward the end of camp and was sometimes the first safety opposite Blankenship before rotating with Edmunds and rookie safety Sydney Brown. The 28-year-old Evans spent 2022 with the New Orleans Saints, starting four games.

With Brown listed as the second-team safety behind Edmunds and Evans, the competition is seemingly down to the two veterans. It’s worth noting the two have shared the field at times with Edmunds as a pseudo-linebacker lined up near the line of scrimmage with Blankenship and Evans on the back end.

Zach Cunningham seems to have a slight leg up on Elliss as the second linebacker in the team’s most-used nickel defensive personnel. Cunningham, 28, signed with the Eagles midway through training camp and progressively worked in with the starting defense more as the summer wore on. The former Texans and Titans linebacker has 76 career starts in six seasons.

Most notably, Cunningham watched the team’s preseason finale in street clothes with the rest of the team’s established starters while Elliss logged about two series of work before coming out.

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Personnel aside, Sunday’s game in New England will offer the first real look at new defensive coordinator Sean Desai’s scheme. Sirianni said the former Seahawks and Chicago Bears assistant was deliberately not revealing much in the preseason.

“I think any time there’s unknown, that’s an advantage,” Sirianni said. “So, I always think that’s why we were very vanilla in the preseason. We didn’t want to show a lot of different things that we plan on doing during the season. Just like a first-year staff, we’ve got a first-year coordinator here.”

The team’s unofficial depth chart doesn’t include practice-squad players like Arryn Siposs and Britain Covey, so Olamide Zaccheaus is listed as the starting punt returner and there’s no punter or holder listed. The team also avoided declaring a starting running back, listing Kenneth Gainwell, Rashaad Penny, Boston Scott, and D’Andre Swift in the same row.