It turns out that we didn’t have to wait until Nick Sirianni’s first press conference as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, which is scheduled for noon on Friday (January 29), to hear him assess the defender’s situation.
Sirianni was asked about the matter during a 17-minute interview with Dave Spadaro on PhiladelphiaEagles.com. Here is a complete transcript of the exchange:
SPADARO: So, Nick, we all want to know – and you’re going to be asked about it a ton – how do you feel about Carson Wentz, Jalen Hurts, and how much was the defender’s position discussed during the interview process?
SIRIANNI: I feel great. You look at a lot of lineups and they don’t have any quarterbacks that they feel very good about. We have two. This is unbelievable, having two defenders who played and played well.
I mean, I couldn’t have watched more tape at Carson Wentz in 2018 when Frank [Reich] and I came back and we were installing our attack with the Indianapolis Colts. We watched a lot of Chargers tapes and a lot of 2017 Philadelphia Eagles tapes. And man, what an impressive player. He has a lot of talent and, from what I heard from everyone, a great person. And, you know, good talent, good person, takes your game to really high levels. So, so excited.
And then Jalen had his photos last year and was able to play last year. And he played good football in significant games.
Therefore, few people have the luxury of having two experienced quarterbacks. And so I’m really excited to be able to work with them, because obviously we all know how important that position is for a football team.
SPADARO: During the interview, was that a big topic of conversation? Did you present your vision of Carson and Jalen to Jeffrey Lurie?
SIRIANNI: Yes. We talked about it. We talked about how we attack defenses, actually. Just a general idea of what the attack is, how we would use the players and different variations like that. Did we talk about quarterbacks? Absolutely. But we talked about each position and how we value it and how we would use it.
Ah, Nick. I’m sure you know how the old saying goes: ‘If you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have a quarterback.’
I’m sure people will have their own interpretations of your answer. And for some, it will be based on what they would you like to harvest from him.
My conclusion is that Sirianni did not leave and definitely committed himself to none of the players as the undisputed Eagles full-back. He was more effusive about Wentz and talked more about him than about Hurts.
Does this mean that the Eagles will have a quarterback competition? This question will likely be asked to Sirianni directly on Friday. So far, it seems that a battle on the training ground is not out of the question.
And it really shouldn’t be given how badly Wentz played last year. I mean, the Los Angeles Rams are supposed to be having a battle on the training ground this summer between Jared Goff, who was not as bad as Wentz, and John Wolford, who is not as promising as a candidate like Hurts.
Will Wentz be a candidate for a competition? That he supposedly “feels a little strange in his relationship with the entire organization” makes you wonder. And he doesn’t seem to be answering the question anytime soon, given how silent he is (plus an ad he tweeted on Thursday)
We’ll see if Siranni shines more on the Eagles’ quarterback situation on Friday.
Some other things that stood out in Sirianni’s interview:
- The new coach confirmed that he WILL call up moves to attack the Eagles. It’s not really a surprise, but noteworthy considering it’s a responsibility he never had before.
- Sirianni said he plans to be “very involved” with the position of defender. “Do you want to talk about a guy [Frank Reich] who knows the position of the quarterback? This is the guy right there. I feel like I got my master’s, my doctorate in a quarterback game, not only from Frank Reich, a great mentor to me, but also from a quarterback like Philip Rivers who played 17 years in the NFL. Yes, I was able to help him become a better player, but in many ways he was able to make me a better coach. “
- Sirianni really emphasized competition and responsibility as two basic principles. If this is more than just a technical speech, I don’t see how the Eagles simply handed over ownership to Wentz.
- When asked about the scheme, he said the following: “It’s all about who the player is and what he does well. […] What do they do best? This is what you want to do. “
- Sirianni confirmed the hiring of the new Eagles defensive coordinator. “You’I have a really high energy coordinator on Jonathan Gannon. And his excitement, his energy, his juice level and his passion for the game are contagious. “
- When asked about involvement in personnel decisions, he talked about having “all hands on deck” and valuing “everyone’s opinion”. So, more of the “collaboration” line that the Eagles love to use when we all know it’s really Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman after all.