Eagles tab Sirianni as new coach

The Eagles are hiring Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni to replace Doug Pederson. Sirianni is a surprising hire whose reviews are sure to please the notoriously patient Philly fan base.

“Good guy, solid candidate,” Eagles beat writer Jeff McLane tweeted that a source told him Thursday. “Fairly smart but not super smart... Low drama, even keel.”

McLane is wellsourced within the Eagles, recently producing a damning story about how quarterback Carson Wentz essentially deposed Pederson in a power struggle.

If McLane’s colleague Paul Domowitch is to be believed, that dynamic is why the Eagles hired Sirianni instead of running backs coach Duce Staley.

“(Staley) wouldn’t let Carson get away with the things he’s been able to get away with,” Domowitch quoted an Eagles source as saying.

With Sirianni’s hiring, six of the seven vacancies in the NFL have been filled, none by Black coaches. Staley, who is Black, was interviewed for the top job that eventually went to the former Colts coordinator. Robert Saleh, whom the Jets introduced

Thursday, is Lebanese-American.

There are only two Black head coaches in the league: Miami’s Brian Flores and Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.

The Eagles have long been connected to Andy Reid’s coaching tree since they fired Big Red after the 2012 season. But even before the surprise Sirianni hiring, there were reports that the team was hotter on Chiefs QB coach Mike Kafka (who is white) than offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy (who is Black).

Bieniemy has also been a victim of his own success, as teams can’t hire coaches away from teams that are still in the playoffs. His Chiefs have made at least the AFC title game the last three years. But the hopes of Black coaches shouldn’t be resting on one candidate.

If Bieniemy is finally going to land a head coaching job this offseason, it will have to be in the chaos in Houston, where the team had to get a special exemption to interview him after Deshaun Watson was furious that he wasn’t in the first round of calls. At least one team is a bigger mess than the Eagles, although they have a much better quarterback.

Nick Sirianni