Jalen Hurts’ Inconsistency Impacted Eagles’ OC Search?
Nick Sirianni‘s second in-house offensive coordinator promotion brought another Eagles regression. As a result, the Eagles HC fired Kevin Patullo two years after canning Brian Johnson. Sirianni’s search to replace Patullo was more difficult than his post-Johnson process.
The Eagles fired Patullo on Jan. 13 but took 18 days to name Sean Mannion his replacement. A host of higher-profile candidates were in the mix for the job, but the Eagles ended up with a former backup quarterback who has been in coaching for two years. This was the OC carousel of the former backup, as both David Blough (Commanders) and Davis Webb (Broncos) will be calling plays as first-year OCs. But the Washington and Denver coordinator searches went far more smoothly than Philadelphia’s.
Philly had Brian Daboll squarely on its radar, but the former Giants HC preferred the Tennessee job and working with Cam Ward. Mike McDaniel also interviewed for the gig, amid a busy offseason for the four-year Dolphins HC, but chose the Chargers and Justin Herbert.
Former Falcons OC Zac Robinson interviewed for the job but accepted a Buccaneers OC offer a week before the Mannion hire. Declan Doyle and LSU OC Charlie Weis Jr. withdrew from this search. Bobby Slowik took a Miami promotion, while Webb accepted a Denver OC bump after receiving an interview request late in the running.
This certainly was a difficult job to fill. Several candidates were hesitant about this gig, per Sportsboom.com’s Jason La Canfora. Sirianni firing two coordinators after one season helps explain some of the difficulties, but La Canfora adds Jalen Hurts‘ inconsistency was a “serious” concern for some of the more experienced candidates involved in Philly’s search. Daboll’s decision to work with Ward headlined that issue.
Hurts’ career has been a rollercoaster ride. He went from unpolished passer to 2022 MVP frontrunner (before a late-season injury). After a 2023 extension started the $50MM-per-year QB boom, Hurts struggled and saw reports scrutinize his relationship with Sirianni. Kellen Moore righted the ship but did so after minimizing the QB’s role, building the offense around Saquon Barkley. Hurts still played well in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX romp before regressing once again. QBR placed Hurts 20th last year, and Patullo’s offense regressed significantly from where Moore’s was. Hurts’ approach, especially against zone coverage, drew internal criticism last season.
Despite finishing with a 25:6 TD-INT ratio, Hurts piloted the NFL’s 19th-ranked scoring offense (down from seventh in 2024). Lane Johnson‘s season-ending injury in Week 11 affected Philly’s attack, but one GM told La Canfora the Eagles realized quickly Patullo might be overmatched at coordinator.
The longtime assistant, who has since joined the Dolphins as pass-game coordinator, saw Sirianni become more involved with the offense compared to his role during Moore’s play-calling year. Calls for Patullo’s job rang out, and an egging incident occurred at the coordinator’s home. A.J. Brown gripes ensued, but those were not exclusive to Patullo’s year in charge.
Sirianni, who faced firing rumors after the 2023 season despite the Eagles reaching Super Bowl LVII, is planning to remain involved in the offense to help the 33-year-old Mannion as he takes a big responsibility leap. Mannion, however, will be the play-caller — just as each Eagles OC has been since midway through the 2021 season. Another GM indicated (via La Canfora) Sirianni’s job will be at risk, despite his 2025 extension, if the Eagles’ offense does not improve. The Eagles firing Doug Pederson three years after a Super Bowl win, with two playoff berths following that showing, occurred on GM Howie Roseman‘s watch.
This is nothing the five-time playoff-qualifying HC has not faced before, but there will be plenty of pressure on him once again. Sirianni made two more staff changes recently. The Eagles are hiring Montgomery VanGorder as assistant QBs coach and Beyah Rasool as a defensive assistant, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz notes. VanGorder was an Eagles quality control assistant last year and previously served as QBs coach at Georgia. Previously a quality control staffer at Florida coaching cornerbacks, Rasool was on the Raiders’ staff last year.
Raiders Finalize 2025 Coaching Staff
The Raiders reeled in the short leash allowed to interim head coach turned official head coach Antonio Pierce after only one season and have turned to former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll to right the ship in Las Vegas. Two and a half weeks after the hiring of the veteran head coach, the Raiders have finalized the coaching staff they will carry into the 2025 NFL season. Though we were already aware of many of these signings, there were some breaking updates, as well. 
For instance, we were already aware of the hiring of offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, wide receivers coach Chris Beatty, and run game coordinator/offensive line coach (and son of the head coach) Brennan Carroll.
To fill out the position coaches, we learned that tight ends coach Luke Steckel would be retained from the previous staff and that Deland McCullough has been hired as running backs coach. A longtime assistant with the Titans, Steckel has worked with multiple positions, though tight ends coach has been his only title lacking the word “assistant.” Last season was his first in role for the Raiders, and the result was tight end Brock Bowers setting NFL records for receptions in a rookie season (112) and receiving yards in a rookie season by a tight end (1,194). McCullough returns to the NFL after time with Indiana and Notre Dame. He previously coached running backs in Kansas City from 2018-20.
All of the assistant hirings were new information. Nate Carroll, the younger of the head coach’s two sons on staff, will join as assistant quarterbacks coach after not being retained as passing game coordinator in Carolina. After getting fired as offensive line coach of the Browns, Andy Dickerson will serve as assistant offensive line coach in Vegas. Former Patriots tight ends coach Bob Bicknell will join as a senior offensive assistant after not being retained in New England. Joining him as a senior offensive assistant will be Joe Philbin, who was retained after serving as the team’s interim offensive line coach last year. New offensive assistant Sean Binckes will be making his NFL coaching debut after two years as an offensive graduate assistant at Ohio State. Lastly, former Seahawks offensive lineman Kyle Fuller will join Carroll’s staff as an offensive quality control coach.
On defense, we were already aware of the retention of defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, as well as the retention and added title of run game coordinator/defensive line coach Rob Leonard and the hiring of linebackers coach John Glenn. We also were made aware of the hiring of Joe Woods as defensive pass game coordinator, but now we see defensive backs have been added to his title, as well. This is not to be confused with the hiring of new defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson, who has held the same role in the past with the Raiders (2015-16), Broncos (2017-18), Cardinals (2019-22), and Saints (2023-24).
All of the assistants on defense were breaking reports, as well. Assisting Leonard on the defensive line will be Kenyon Jackson, who served in the same assistant defensive line position for the Texans last year. Ty McKenzie has been hired as defensive assistant/linebackers coach. McKenzie was an inside linebackers coach for the Titans (2018-19), a linebackers coach for the Lions (2020), and an outside linebackers coach for the Dolphins (2022) in the past but spent last year as a defensive analyst at the University of North Carolina. New defensive assistant Rip Rowan will be making his NFL coaching debut after spending the last three seasons as defensive line coach at Georgia Southern. Lastly, Beyah Rasool will be the team’s new defensive quality control coach, making his NFL coaching debut after time with multiple universities including, most recently, Florida.
On special teams, we already were aware that veteran special teams coordinator Tom McMahon was being retained, and now we know that both special teams assistant Derius Swinton II and quality control/special teams coach Kade Rannings have been retained in their same roles, as well. Additionally, we knew that former Seattle vice president of coaching operations Matt Capurro would be reuniting with Carroll, but we didn’t know in what capacity. We now know he’ll hold a very similar role as senior vice president of coaching operations in Las Vegas.
There we have it: the 2025 Raiders coaching staff. The top-10 scoring defense retains its leader, albeit with a bit of a different supporting cast, while the offense has been completely revamped, aside from the mentor of the phenom tight end. We’ve seen Carroll build a team into a winner in Seattle, and now we’ll see if he can do the same with a team that has the second-worst cumulative record (119-205) over the last 20 years.