D.K. McDonald

Eagles To Add Doug Nussmeier To Staff; Team Expected To Hire Broncos’ Christian Parker

Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio are bringing some familiar staffers to Philadelphia. One of those will be Doug Nussmeier, who has worked with Moore in Dallas and Los Angeles.

Nussmeier will join the Eagles as quarterbacks coach, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler. Additionally, the Eagles are expected to hire Christian Parker from the Broncos’ staff, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano tweets. Parker loomed as a DC candidate during this year’s cycle. The young assistant will rejoin Fangio, who hired him in Denver.

Moore and Nussmeier coached together in Dallas from 2018-22, with the latter moving from tight ends coach to QBs coach during that span. Moore brought Nussmeier with him to Los Angeles when he took over as Chargers OC last year. That stint did not go especially well, but the Eagles will give Moore leeway to bring his longtime coworker with him to coach Jalen Hurts.

Seeing as both staffers were tied to the Cowboys for years, the Eagles certainly have a degree of familiarity with Moore and Nussmeier. The latter also served as an offensive coordinator for five college programs — including Alabama, Michigan and Florida — from 2008-17. This will be the second former Gators OC the Eagles will have hired as QBs coach under Nick Sirianni. The Eagles brought Brian Johnson from Gainesville to coach Hurts, whom the assistant had known for years, in 2021. The Eagles have since fired Johnson after one season as OC; no team has hired the young staffer yet.

Johnson and Nussmeier did not coach together at Florida; the latter was in Dallas by the time Johnson got to Gainesville. The Ravens interviewed Nussmeier, 53, for their OC job in 2023 but hired Todd Monken. Philly will now entrust additional Hurts development to two former Cowboys staffers. With Jim Harbaugh now running the Chargers, Nussmeier needed to make new plans.

Parker, 32, interviewed for the Patriots and Packers’ DC jobs this offseason. He has been valued in Denver, working as the team’s DBs coach under Fangio, Nathaniel Hackett and Sean Payton. Residing as the last Fangio assistant coach left this past season, Parker has overseen the likes of Justin Simmons and Patrick Surtain. Parker has coached the latter, now a two-time Pro Bowler, throughout his career. He also mentored rookie UDFA slot cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian in 2023. Parker was under contract, per Denver7’s Troy Renck, who notes the team gave the Eagles permission to make this hire.

Additionally, the Eagles are hiring Dolphins assistant Joe Kasper to be their safeties coach, NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe tweets. Fangio targeted Kasper, per Wolfe, and the Eagles sent him an interview slip last week. Despite Fangio’s Dolphins fit not proving ideal, the veteran defensive coach’s time in Miami will lead at least one staffer to follow him. This is a return trip for Kasper, who was a quality control assistant with the Eagles from 2021-22. Fangio’s consulting season helped lead Kasper to Miami, where he served as safeties coach.

One of the staffers who worked under Jonathan Gannon and Sean Desai in Philly, DBs coach D.K. McDonald, is departing to become the co-defensive coordinator at Kansas, according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman. This proves interesting due to he and Fangio overlapping in 2022; McDonald was on Sirianni’s staff from 2021-23. The ex-Gannon assistant began his Philly tenure as assistant DBs coach, moving up to secondary coach in 2023.

Eagles Addressed Darius Slay-Matt Patricia Past Before Making Hire

Multiple paths were in play for Darius Slay and Matt Patricia this offseason, but the two former Lions coworkers are now key parts of the Eagles’ defensive blueprint.

The Eagles discussed Slay in trades and were close to cutting him, but an extension agreement will keep the standout cornerback in Philadelphia. Patricia interviewed for the Broncos’ defensive coordinator job, was in play to stay with the Patriots and appeared on the Rams’ radar. But he is now in Philly as well.

Philly hired Patricia as a senior defensive assistant in April, well after the HC and coordinator carousels stopped. This made for an interesting move for a few reasons. Patricia’s success has occurred entirely in New England, and the veteran defensive coach is coming off a strange season in which he was asked to call the Pats’ offensive plays. Patricia, 48, also has a history with Slay from their Detroit days. Slay clashed with Patricia early during the latter’s run as the Detroit HC and at one point during Patricia’s 2018 debut, the then-Lions Pro Bowler said he did not respect the new coach. Patricia also, per Slay, questioned the accomplished cornerback’s abilities.

This feud reached the point the Eagles felt it prudent to address the matter before finalizing the Patricia hire, Albert Breer of SI.com notes. The initial Slay trade rumors surfaced shortly after Patricia emerged on Philly’s radar, but the two will work together despite their late-2010s drama. For his part, Slay said the parties’ relationship has been “cordial” this offseason, per Jenna Malinowski of the Detroit Free Press.

It’s another day at the office,” Slay said. “We both got the same goal, just going out there to compete and win a championship, so that’s the main focus.”

Patricia not having the same authority level and not directly overseeing Slay stands to help matters in Philly, but given the latter’s importance to the Eagles’ defense — as reflected by the new $23MM guarantee the team authorized despite Slay being 32 — this hire can be questioned. But Patricia has thus far proven a solid resource for new DC Sean Desai, Breer adds.

The Eagles are transitioning to mostly new personnel on their defensive staff. Following Jonathan Gannon‘s messy departure, the Eagles lost defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, who had been a candidate for the DC job. Linebackers coach Nick Rallis followed Gannon to Arizona. The team promoted assistant DBs coach D.K. McDonald to fill Wilson’s role, while D.J. Eliot — a college DC over the past 10 years who most recently served in that capacity at Temple — is now in charge of the linebackers. Patricia has experience coaching both position groups and obviously is best known for his six-year run as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator. Considering the staff turnover in Philly, Patricia stands to be an important presence in Desai’s first season leading the defense.

Staff Notes: Eagles, Arians, Evero, Panthers

The Eagles officially announced their coaching updates heading into the 2023 NFL season on Twitter today, revealing some updates to their completely made-over staff that we were previously unaware of.

On the offensive side of the ball, pass game coordinator Kevin Patullo received a promotion, adding the moniker of associate head coach to his title. Also, beneath the head coach, the team has hired Tyler Yelk to serve as assistant to the head coach.

On the defensive side of the ball, a couple of others received promotions. Formerly the assistant defensive backs coach, D.K. McDonald has taken over the position room as the new defensive backs coach. Filling McDonald’s previous role of assistant defensive backs coach will be Taver Johnson, who has experience in the NFL but most recently served as defensive pass game coordinator and safeties coach at Eastern Michigan. Tyler Scudder has become the team’s assistant linebackers coach after serving as a defensive assistant previously. Lastly, Philadelphia has hired Mike Diangelo in the role of defensive quality control.

Here are a few more updates in the coaching ranks of the NFL:

  • The Buccaneers made an addition to their staff this week, as well, according to Greg Auman of FOX Sports. Tampa Bay brought Sarah Evans into the coaches office to serve in the role of senior manager of coaching operations. She’s been with the team since 2020 in roles concerning player relations and community efforts.
  • In another update from Tampa Bay, former head coach Bruce Arians will reportedly be taking another step back in 2023, according to Mike Florio of NBC Sports. Last year, he stepped down from head coach to senior advisor to the general manager. This year, he remains in that role, and has reportedly still been helpful leading up the draft but hasn’t been nearly as involved as he was last year.
  • Many have drooled over the elite names joining the Panthers‘ coaching staff this offseason, lauding owner David Tepper on his financial commitment to the staff. Thanks to Joe Person of The Athletic, we have some evidence of that. New defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero will reportedly move into the top ten highest-paid defensive coordinators in the NFL with a three-year contract worth about $9.3MM.
  • In the Carolina front office, the Panthers’ vice president of football operations, Steven Drummond, has resigned after over 17 years with the organization, according to Person.