PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles are hiring Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni as their next coach, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday.
Sirianni, 39, had an extensive interview for the position of chief technician that started on Tuesday and supposedly extended to the following day.
There was a feeling in the league circles that the contest had been reduced to two candidates – the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, and Sirianni, who was the Colts’ coordinator for three seasons.
Philadelphia ended up hiring the less-advertised name, but it continued to gain strength within the Eagles’ organization the more they called to talk about him.
Sirianni had already spent three seasons as an assistant to the Kansas City Chiefs and five seasons with the Chargers.
He was the coach of the Chargers’ defenders in 2014 and 2015, when Frank Reich was the offensive coordinator in San Diego. Reich hired him to be his right-hand man when he left Philadelphia to take over as Colts coach in 2018.
Despite a rotating squad of quarterbacks with Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett and Philip Rivers, Indianapolis has been the champion of attack in two of the past three seasons. Rivers completed 68% of his passes this season for 4,169 yards, with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2020.
Sirianni has worked as a coach for defenders and coach for receivers since joining the league with the Chiefs in 2009.
The Colts (11-5) finished ninth in the NFL in scoring (28.2 PPG) and 10th in yards per game (378.1) in 2020.
The Eagles did an extensive search after firing Super Bowl winning coach Doug Pederson on January 11. They interviewed Arthur Smith, Robert Saleh, Jerod Mayo, Joe Brady, Kellen Moore, Duce Staley, Todd Bowles, Dennis Allen, McDaniels and Sirianni. They also asked to speak to Buffalo Bills’ offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, the sources said, but there was an agreement to wait until after Sunday’s AFC Championship Game for a possible interview.
Pederson was fired after making 4-11-1 in his fifth season with the team. He did 46-39-1 and won the Lombardi trophy during the 2017 season – the first of three consecutive Eagles playoffs under Pederson.