{"id":159141,"date":"2024-01-22T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=159141"},"modified":"2024-01-21T10:16:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T15:16:27","slug":"philadelphia-eagles-defensive-coordinator-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/01\/22\/philadelphia-eagles-defensive-coordinator-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Potential Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Coaching Fits for the Eagles Defensive Coordinator Role<\/h2>\n<p>As we await a potential decision on Nick Sirianni\u2019s job, we do know that the Eagles will be looking for a new defensive coordinator. The Eagles defense was atrocious this year, especially in the passing game. They ranked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/view\/defense\/season\/2023\/seasontype\/2\/table\/passing\/sort\/netPassingYardsPerGame\/dir\/asc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second-worst in passing yards allowed per game<\/a> and were torn to shreds late in the year. \u00a0It would benefit them to hire a coordinator who is very knowledgeable about the secondary and can bring in a mix of coverages and creativity to the backend, as opposed to someone more creative in the front seven. For the Eagles, there are a healthy number of options that offer different options in experience and upside.<\/p>\n<h3>Known Commodities<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Brandon Staley, Former Head Coach of the Los Angeles Chargers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Staley\u2019s tenure went horrifically in LA as the head coach. He made terrible executive decisions and really could never get their defense going either. However, sometimes having to deal with head coach responsibilities will diminish someone\u2019s impact on just one side of the ball. Before being hired by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/chargers\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>, Staley was seen as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/30663776\/the-sean-mcvay-defense-former-division-iii-coordinator-brandon-staley-latest-los-angeles-rams-coaching-wunderkind\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensive genius<\/a>. Going back to a more focused role will likely greatly benefit Staley and revive his coaching career. As the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator, Staley was awesome in creating unique, opponent-based coverages week to week. If he could bring that to Philadelphia, it could be a massive difference-maker.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leslie Frazier, Former Long-time Defensive Coordinator and Head Coach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Frazier has been around the NFL for a long time. He started his NFL coaching career with former Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid as a secondary coach in 1999. Also, he has spent time as a defensive coordinator with the Bengals, Vikings, and most recently the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bills\/\" target=\"_self\">Buffalo Bills<\/a>. Additionally, Frazier also has three years of Head Coach experience with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a> and has spent time with the Buccaneers and the Ravens coaching staff. Frazier has ample experience and has seen a level of success everywhere he\u2019s gone. He would be seen as a safer option but may lack the upside of other candidates. Yet, Frazier could be a reliable presence and teacher for the young Eagles defensive core.<\/p>\n<h3>More Unknown Commodities with Upside<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Al Harris, Dallas Cowboys Defensive Backs Coach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Al Harris is a very intriguing option for the Eagles. Harris was a Former cornerback who played for the Eagles, Packers, Dolphins, and Rams. He started his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Chiefs from 2013-2018. Since being hired in 2020, he has served as the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\/\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a> secondary coach and has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloggingtheboys.com\/2023\/12\/15\/24001051\/dallas-cowboys-coaching-staff-al-harris-cornerbacks-stephon-gilmore-daron-bland-trevon-diggs\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tremendous<\/a> for them. This past season, the Cowboys ranked fifth in passing yards allowed this year. Moreover, he deserves credit for the development of players like Trevon Diggs, and Daron Bland. Even with limited coaching experience, Harris could be the right guy to mentor the young Eagles secondary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse Minter, Michigan Defensive Coordinator<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Minter is a hot name around the NFL and is reported to be <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/report-michigan-jesse-minter-leading-184232981.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the leading candidate<\/a> for the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator position. Michigan was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/stats\/team\/_\/view\/defense\/table\/passing\/sort\/totalPointsPerGame\/dir\/asc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">number one defense<\/a> in college football this year and a big reason why they won the National Championship. Most of Minter\u2019s coaching experience is in college, but he also spent time with the Ravens in 2020. Minter is a hot name in NFL circles, but some expect him to remain with Jim Harbaugh if he were to get an NFL head coaching job this offseason. However, if that\u2019s not the case, the Eagles should be heavily interested in Minter. He\u2019s a creative coach who has coached a plethora of NFL-caliber players in the secondary.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eagles Defensive Coordinator: After a horrific defensive season, the Eagles will be looking for a new face to take over the defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4564,"featured_media":155309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,21],"tags":[32186,5744,7430,1529,46],"class_list":["post-159141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-eagles","tag-2024-nfl-offseason","tag-al-harris","tag-brandon-staley","tag-leslie-frazier","tag-philadelphia-eagles"],"modified_by":"Mike Kashuba","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}