The Eagles have lost defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.
Now, they’ve also lost their best defensive position coach.
And they might be on the brink of a mutiny.
After an acrimonious meeting this weekend, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni fired popular and productive defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson on Saturday, two league sources confirmed. Sirianni passed over Wilson in his exhaustive search to replace Gannon and hired Seattle Seahawks defensive assistant Sean Desai instead.
Wilson was, understandably, disappointed that he did not get the DC job. Sirianni knew this.
Sources said Sirianni met with Wilson over the weekend looking for — and receiving — assurances that Wilson would cooperate with Desai. Yet Sirianni nevertheless was convinced that Wilson would not work well with Desai. This, despite Wilson working well with Gannon, even though they never were kindred spirits before Gannon got the head coach job in Arizona.
The Eagles are trying to paint this as an amicable split. Untrue, according to sources. Wilson wanted to stay.
Both owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman adored Wilson, league sources said. This matters because, after meddling in former coach Doug Pederson’s staffing decisions to the degree that Lurie fired Pederson in part over control issues, Lurie and Roseman have not interfered much with Sirianni’s staffing. Like Pederson, Sirianni took the Eagles to the Super Bowl in his second season. Unlike Sirianni, Pederson won it.
This was entirely Sirianni’s call, sources say. Attempts to reach the Eagles for comment were not returned.
Sirianni might have a problem on his hands when the team reconvenes in a few months.
Cornerback Darius Slay and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson had openly lobbied for Wilson to be promoted. Slay tweeted on the night of Feb. 24, “I kno (sic) my guy Dennard Wilson should be a DC in the NFL!!” Within the hour, Gardner-Johnson quote-tweeted, “He help me elevate my game most def.”
A few days later, in response to Gannon’s milquetoast explanation of how his defense gave up 31 points and lost Super Bowl LVII, Gardner-Johnson tweeted, “You ain’t put us in position to make plays.”
Can’t wait to see their next tweets.
Continuity is always a challenge for successful teams. The Eagles have now lost the coordinator, defensive backs coach, and the linebackers coach from the No. 2 defense in the NFL. Gannon took Nick Rallis with him to Arizona.
Significantly, he did not take Wilson.
Wilson, an 11-year NFL assistant who, like Gannon, was part of Sirianni’s first Eagles staff in 2021, was the DB coach and the defensive passing game coordinator of the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL. The Eagles’ 70 sacks set a franchise record, but many of those sacks developed because receivers simply were not open. The Eagles tied for fourth in the NFL with 17 interceptions.
Wilson’s influence went far beyond the field; he handled the team’s most volatile group of players like a demolition expert handles nitroglycerine.
For instance, Wilson defused a potentially explosive situation after the Eagles’ Christmas Eve loss at Dallas. After the game, Slay pointed a finger at backup slot corner Josiah Scott, who blew a coverage that allowed the Cowboys to convert a third-and-30 en route to a key loss. In fact, Wilson turned a potentially disastrous situation into a team-building moment.
As such, after losing offensive coordinator and play caller Shane Steichen to the Colts, and with wholesale changes coming on the defensive roster, this move could well be Sirianni’s Waterloo.
Wilson was extremely effective in incorporating rental cornerback James Bradberry, converting nickel corner Gardner-Johnson to safety, and deploying Pro Bowl corner Darius Slay. Slay and Bradberry ranked eighth and ninth in profootballfocus.com’s coverage rankings, and Slay was a Pro Bowl selection in both his seasons under Wilson. Gardner-Johnson, who played corner his first three seasons with the Saints, landed in Philly via trade and tied for the league lead with six interceptions in his first season as a safety.
As significantly, Wilson turned scrap-heap safety Marcus Epps into a full-time player and the past two seasons and turned undrafted rookie Reed Blankenship into an emergency starter and consistent contributor last season.
The Eagles are expected to lose Bradberry to free agency. They are expected to either sign Gardner-Johnson, who can be a free agent, to a long-term extension or use their franchise tag on him. They are expected to extend Slay’s contract past 2023, since he currently carries a salary cap hit of more than $26 million. They also are expected to use one of their premium draft picks to replace Bradberry at cornerback; they currently hold picks Nos. 10, 30, and 62.
This is what Wilson’s successor will inherit. The Eagles are expected to look outside the building for a replacement. Assistant DBs coach D.K. McDonald, a longtime college assistant, has been an NFL coach for just two seasons.
Gannon’s defense always has been a house divided.
Gardner-Johnson’s critical tweet, quickly deleted, was not the first instance of insubordination by an Eagles player toward Gannon. In 2021, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox criticized Gannon’s absurd use of him in pass coverage. Sirianni brought Gannon with him from Indianapolis. Gannon was the Colts’ defensive backs coach and never had been a defensive coordinator.
By contrast, Wilson managed to bring together a defensive backs room awash in ego and entitlement.
Wilson often had to chasten Slay, a disruptive diva in Detroit who became a foundational leader in Philly.
“All the time,” Wilson told me last month. “It only lasts about 10 seconds, but, like every day. He knows when I get real serious, and he gets quiet. If I get on him about something, he’ll come back with a sly comment to ease the tension.”
He described Bradberry, pensive and mature, as an “old soul.”
Both Bradberry and Gardner-Johnson are likely to approach the top tier of earnings for their positions this offseason, just like former Wilson pupil Jamal Adams, a former Jets safety whom Wilson coached for his first three NFL seasons and who signed a four-year, $70 million extension in 2021.
Before this season, Wilson told Bradberry and Gardner-Johnson, “It’s my job to help you get as much money as you can. As long as you play well together, you’ll always benefit from it, even if it’s not here.”
As it turns out, it’s Wilson who moved on ...
To Sirianni’s demise?
