It’s no secret what the Los Angeles Rams have to deal with at the end of every season when it comes to their coaching staff. Since Sean McVay took over as the head coach of the Rams, this past season was the first time that he’s had the same offensive and defensive coordinator in back-to-back seasons.
Since 2017, it would be hard to find another coaching staff that has been poached from as much as McVay’s. It’s typically not a matter of if the Rams will need to make changes to their staff, but when. While the Rams didn’t lose coordinators last year, Nick Caley joined the Houston Texans and John Streicher joined the New England Patriots.
Heading into 2025, the Rams had five former coordinators or position coaches serving as head coaches around the league. McVay being able to consistently replace his staff while maintaining success is one of his more impressive qualities. It’s also something that the Philadelphia Eagles and Nick Sirianni have learned over the past three years.
After the Eagles made the Super Bowl in 2022, Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon were both hired as head coaches. Sirianni replaced them with Brian Johnson and Sean Desai. Johnson was fired at the end of the season while Desai was demoted midseason.
The Eagles replaced Johnson and Desai with two top-tier coordinators in Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio. When the Eagles won the Super Bowl last year, Moore was hired as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Moore was replaced with Kevin Patullo.
Similar to 2023 when the Eagles had to replace their coordinators, they are once again managing a late-season collapse. The Eagles started 10-1 in 2023 before losing six of their last seven games, including a playoff loss in the Wild Card round. After starting 8-2 this season, the Eagles have since lost three straight games to fall to 8-5.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts hasn’t looked good and Saquon Barkley isn’t as effective as last season running the ball. All season there has been drama at the wide receiver position with A.J. Brown. Offensively, the Eagles are one of the most talented groups in the NFL and rank 16th in EPA per play on the season. Since Week 10, they rank 26th.
Now with Patullo on the hot seat, Eagles fans are expressing how frustrating it is that they’ve had to replace coordinators in two of the last three years. However, it’s something that the Rams have had to do nearly every single year under McVay. Instead of voicing frustrations about it, McVay has talked about the natural growth and career development for those that do leave.
With the Eagles once again struggling and experiencing difficulties replacing coordinators, it’s even more clear that what McVay does is a special quality. It’s also worth questioning Sirianni and what his role is as the head coach. The narrative that he is just a ‘rah rah’ head coach is only emphasized. With McVay, he at least has a system that he can fall back on if things go sideways.
As Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation wrote:
“Since Sirianni arrived in 2021, the Eagles’ offense has always been at its worst when he’s been more involved. He gave up play-calling in 2021 and things got better. He meddled with Brian Johnson in 2023 and he was forced to hire Kellen Moore for 2024. Now his right-hand man is the offensive coordinator and it’s been the worst offense of the Sirianni era. I’m skeptical that him stepping in more is going to fix everything.”
Meanwhile, Sirianni seems to only be as good as his coordinators. The Eagles defense remains an excellent unit under Fangio. However, despite Sirianni being a former offensive coordinator, in the two seasons his offense has been good, the coordinator has been hired as a head coach. The next season, the Eagles offense struggled. Steichen and Moore were both picked by Howie Roseman. Johnson and Patullo were Sirianni guys.
Simply put, McVay doesn’t get enough credit for his ability to hire a coaching staff. Since 2017, only one McVay coordinator has left and taken a lesser position. That coordinator was Coen, who left to be the offensive coordinator at Kentucky. It also only happened after a disastrous 2022 season and McVay wanting to shift offensive philosophies in the run game.
With success comes teams around the league wanting to replicate that success. That’s something that the Eagles are learning to deal with and something that McVay has always done a great job managing.
