The Eagles hired their new defensive coordinator.
They are hiring Colts defender Jonathan Gannon, who has attracted the interest of several teams in this off-season.
The Eagles also interviewed Washington DBs coach Chris Harris. Both candidates for this position that we heard about have already trained with new coach Nick Sirianni, which is significant. The last time the Eagles hired a head coach, Doug Pederson and Jim Schwartz had no close relationship.
Gannon has been the Colts’ defense coach since 2018, when Frank Reich’s team took over at Indy. So he and Sirianni have been working together for the past three seasons.
Gannon has been a hot name for the past week, having had several interviews for defensive coordinator positions. So this would be a good buy for the Eagles. Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is considered a candidate for the vacancy as Texas head coach. Therefore, the Eagles are catching Gannon before this potentially happens and the Colts can ask him to take over. The Colts had defense No. 8 in the NFL in 2020.
Apparently, Gannon played a big role in the development of several young DBs in Indy. And he also helped the Colts to get Xavier Rhodes and got him back to playing at the Pro Bowl level.
Here’s a little bit of what Indianapolis Star had to say about Gannon:
“Xavier had a hell of a year. He really believed in what we were doing. I give Jonathan Gannon a lot of credit for that,” said Colts general manager Chris Ballard recently. “He had a relationship with Xavier from Minnesota. Xavier worked and bought everything we were doing.”
Gannon also helped develop some of the Colts’ younger secondary members, including Rock Ya-Sin, Kenny Moore, Khari Willis and Julian Blackmon.
“They are going to hire one of my favorite coaches of all time,” tweeted Moore on Saturday night. “Dude, what a 3-year race we had. I love it.”
Prior to joining the Colts, Gannon was an assistant coach for the Vikings’ DBs for four seasons and was with the Titans before that. His first job in the NFL came with the Falcons in 2007 as a defense assistant.
The Colts have been a 4-3 team for the past three years under Eberflus, so he is likely to maintain that line-up in Philadelphia. The Eagles have been a 4-3 team for the past five seasons and clearly have the people facing that front.
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