Eagles’ Nick Sirianni’s First Mistake? Not Promoting DBs Coach Dennard Wilson
PHILADELPHIA – It was a far tumble for the pass defense of the Philadelphia Eagles, going from first to next to worst.
It was a surprising drop-off considering that general manager Howie Roseman brought back both his veteran cornerbacks, James Bradberry and Darius Slay.
The safety room took a hit, losing starters Marcus Epps and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, but it still had second-year man Reed Blankenship and was fortified with free agent signings Terrell Edmunds, who was later traded for Kevin Byard, Justin Evans, who made four starts before being lost for the season with an injury, and the drafting of Sydney Brown.
There was enough there to not go from the top-ranked pass defense that went to Super Bowl LVII to No. 31 against the pass that went 1-6 to finish the season with an early bounce from the playoffs.
The one change, other than Jonathan Gannon leaving his defensive coordinator post to become the Arizona Cardinals head coach, was the defensive backs coach – Dennard Wilson.
This is where the Eagles’ problems, which worsened as the season went on, can be traced.
He was interviewed for the DC position. He wanted the position, and his secondary wanted him to get the position.
Instead, Sirianni hired Desai on Feb. 28, then the Eagles didn’t make him available to the media until May 11.
“He wasn’t a guy who just came in the room and said, ‘This is what we do. Done,’” said Slay about Wilson after the season. “He put some life aspects to it. And he was an honest dude.”
Wilson will reportedly soon be employed as the DC for the Tennessee Titans.
Exactly why Sirianni chose not to promote him is a mystery and hiring Sean Desai, after how everything went down after being ousted following 13 weeks and replaced by Matt Patricia, is an even greater mystery, if not an outright miscalculation.
Of course, the Ravens have a DC opening after Mike Macdonald left to be the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and you have to wonder why they would let Wilson get out the door. Maybe he won’t since Wilson’s departure for Tennessee has yet to be officially announced.
Slay said Wilson, 41, told him he would have returned as the defensive backs coach even after being passed over for the DC job. Instead, Sirianni fired him, not believing Wilson would be able to work with Desai.
So, Wilson became the DB coach for the Baltimore Ravens, who were sixth against the pass this season in reaching the AFC title game.
“I think he would have made a lot of difference,” Slay told Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He was loved by us. I thought, for sure, he should have stayed.