PHILADELPHIA − It would be easy to say the Eagles should make it back to the Super Bowl next season because they have a franchise quarterback in Jalen Hurts, and a core group of players who have the experience of reaching the NFL’s championship game.
It was something Eagles coach Nick Sirianni mentioned Thursday in his press conference to wrap up the 2022 season that concluded with the 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
“We were there. We were close,” he said. “And all that does to me is make me hungrier to get back.”
Then Sirianni turned sad, as if he was going to cry like he did during the national anthem, when he was shown on the videoscreen with tears running down his face.
“But that doesn’t stop you from when you see the red and yellow confetti fall, or you have a piece of it stuck on your damn shirt, that you don’t think to yourself, ‘I gotta do everything that I can do to help our guys get back to this moment,'” Sirianni said.
Added general manager Howie Roseman: “We have a scar on us. And it’s going to heal over time, and we’re going to do everything we can, everything in our power to make sure that we bring the city, our players, our staff, what they deserve.”
They both know returning to the Super Bowl is easier said than done.
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The Eagles will have upwards of 20 free agents. They have to replace offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who took head coaching jobs in Indianapolis and Arizona, respectively, not long after that confetti was cleared from the State Farm Stadium field.
And the Eagles would like to sign quarterback Jalen Hurts to a contract extension this offseason, and that can affect how much salary cap room they’ll have this year and in future years.
Here, then, are 4 takeaways from Roseman and Sirianni’s plans to get back to the Super Bowl:
1. Not a slam dunk for in-house replacements
Sirianni dropped a few hints as to what he’s looking for in both an offense and defensive coordinator, and that could mean in-house candidates in quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson and defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson aren’t slam dunks.
Sure, Sirianni gave the requisite plug for each without naming them, by saying: “I feel like we have a lot of good in-house options, which is always going to be where I start.”
Johnson, for one, has known Hurts since Hurts was 4 years old, when Johnson played for Hurts’ father in high school.
Sirianni also said he plans to have his next offensive coordinator call plays the way Steichen did since the Eagles were 2-5 in the 2021 season. The Eagles have gone 23-8 since.
But Johnson has never called plays before. His first job in the NFL came when Sirianni hired him in 2021.
Then again, Johnson has helped transform Hurts into an MVP finalist, and the two are extremely close.
“It really does help me manage the game better, in my opinion,” Sirianni said about his offensive coordinator calling the plays. “It helps me interact with the players more on the sideline. It helps me be able to discuss something with somebody upstairs and to get on the defensive headset when the offense is up and vice versa.”
Like most offensive-minded coaches, Sirianni gives the defensive coordinator autonomy, up to a point. Gannon made it work as the Eagles had the No. 2 rated defense in the NFL.
Wilson obviously knows Gannon’s system. Then again, Josina Anderson, a senior NFL Insider at CBSSports HQ, reported that the Eagles and Broncos would like to interview Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who also has served as a head coach.
Gannon is reportedly not retaining Joseph.
So yes, the Eagles will look at coordinators from around the NFL and perhaps even college.
2. Does Wentz mistake influence Hurts’ contract?
The Eagles’ desire to sign Hurts is a no-brainer. He has one year left on his rookie contract, which counts $4.8 million against the 2023 cap. But signing him this offseason would enable the Eagles to spread out the bonus money on the cap for the life of the contract, and thus reducing his salary cap hits in the ensuing years, when he could be averaging $50 million per year.
“Obviously, we want to keep our best players here for the long term, and (Hurts) is certainly one of our best players,” Roseman said.
Remember, it was less than four years ago when the Eagles signed Carson Wentz to a record contract at the time of four years, $128 million with $108 million guaranteed. It’ll take much more than that, obviously, to sign Hurts.
Wentz never lived up to that deal and was traded after a dreadful 2020 season. Does that give Roseman pause with Hurts?
“I think each example is on its own,” Roseman said. “You gotta look at the individual player − and that’s not to be critical to anyone that we’ve given a contract to that hasn’t worked out. But I think when we talk about Jalen, we’re talking about a guy we have tremendous confidence in, a guy that we want him to be here for a long time.”
3. A plethora of early draft picks
Sure, the Eagles have the nearly 20 pending free agents, and Roseman knows the Eagles can’t most of them.
But the Eagles have four in the first three rounds both this year and in 2024. They have an extra first-rounder this year, and an extra second-rounder in 2024.
The Eagles have eight picks overall in ’24. That could increase to as many as 12 because the free agents the Eagles lose this spring will net compensatory picks in 2024. No team is allowed more than four comp picks. Depending on the departing players’ grading, those picks can come anywhere at the end of Rounds 3 through 7.
“When we looked at this team … over a period of time, we knew we had to get additional picks,” Roseman said. “Just by the sheer number of free agents, we’re going to have comp picks (in 2024).”
Of course, no general manager trades more than Roseman. He could use the 2024 picks to get a few extra picks this spring. Or he can use them to acquire players, like he did last season in wide receiver A.J. Brown and safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
Needless to say, Roseman will explore every option.
4. Critical fourth-down decisions
Sirianni was asked about two fourth-down decisions in which he uncharacteristically decided not to go for either.
The first was the 4th-and-3 from the Eagles’ 32 with 10:33 left in the fourth quarter. At the time, the Eagles were trailing by a point, but they punted. Kadarius Toney returned the punt 65 yards to the Eagles’ 5, and the Chiefs scored a few plays later to go up 35-27.
“I know I’ve been aggressive all year going for it, really trusting our guys in those scenarios,” he said. “But 4th-and-3 from our own 32 … I think you’d get 32 out of 32 NFL coaches saying they’d punt the ball every time.”
Then he said sarcastically: “If I had known they were going to return it to the (5), in hindsight, then obviously I would have went for it there.”
As for the second decision, the Eagles faced a 4th-and-6 from the Chiefs’ 15 with 1:48 left in the third quarter. At the time, the Eagles were leading 24-21. Sirianni opted for the field goal to make it 27-21. The Chiefs went down and scored at the other end, taking their first lead of the game.
Still, Sirianni said the distance was too far to risk not getting the three points. But Brown said Tuesday, when the Eagles kicked the field goal, “I knew deep down that it was probably a chance we were probably going to lose.”
He was right.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
