Following another appearance in the Super Bowl, Philadelphia Eagles‘ head coach Nick Sirianni took center stage at the team’s training camp to engage in a candid conversation with the media.
In the session, the Eagles’ head coach addressed a plethora of topics, offering insights into the team’s key position battles and his vision for the upcoming season. Sirianni spoke about D’Andre Swift’s hands, Marcus Mariota’s development, and the state of the safety position.
Check out what Sirianni had to say below.
Head Coach Nick Sirianni speaks with the media. #FlyEaglesFly https://t.co/48OKo9UTK7
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 3, 2023
On Marcus Mariota:
“Yeah, obviously he’s just learning a new offense.
It’s just getting him caught up to speed, and he is continuing to do that.
I think you see his athletic ability on display. He made a really nice play the other day in practice where he got flushed out of the pocket, stepped up, and ripped a crossing route to [WR] Greg Ward. I thought that just showed the kind of player we saw on tape and why we wanted him here. We’re pleased with where he is, and he is just going to continue to get better as he gets more comfortable in this scheme.”
On D’Andre Swift:
“He’s a playmaker. He’s a playmaker. Very serious. Comes to work every day looking to get better.
I think that’s the best way to explain him that he is a playmaker, and you see it in practice that he can create mismatches that when you get him the football, he can catch the football and make plays with it and also in the backfield.”
On K’Von Wallace:
“You earn your first team reps, so K’Von has done a nice job. K’Von has done well for us on special teams these past two years, and now he’s got an opportunity. There’s some safety spots open, and he has an opportunity to be able to be in the mix.
K’Von has earned reps, and that’s just how that situation went. He’s earned reps. There’s a spot being battled for, and he is in the mix for that.”
Full Transcript:
Q: How are you handling the LB Haason Reddick situation? (Howard Eskin)
NICK SIRIANNI: I don’t see there being a situation. Haason has been here every day and working his butt off to get himself back out on the practice field. Working his butt off to make sure that he is healthy so this injury that he is going through right now doesn’t linger all season.
You know, engaged in meetings, engaged in practice, engaged in the training room. Haason is a great teammate and a great player. I’m glad he’s here.
Q: How has your relationship with Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson evolved since he stepped into his new role this offseason? (Shamus Clancy)
NICK SIRIANNI: I try to make it a point that I’m close with all my coaches as far as just being tight with them because I think that’s important. That’s what we preach to our team. I’ve got to practice what I preach. So, I’ve really valued the relationship that we’ve had over the past two years.
When you are a quarterback coach, you’re in all the discussions that a coordinator and the head coach are in together, so Brian has been there through all our discussions. It just so happens he has a different hat on this year, but really value the relationship we have.
I didn’t know Brian when he first got here, but knew he did a great job in the interview, knew all the good things that I had heard about him as a football coach that warranted him getting an interview. He has just done an outstanding job since the day he stepped foot in here, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him and be his colleague and also his friend.
Q: What’s QB Jalen Hurts done this past week that has particularly stood out to you? (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: I just think his consistency is showing. Again, you’re going to make splash plays in camp. You’re going to make some plays that you want back in camp, and that’s all part of the process of getting better every day, learning from your mistakes, and also getting better from the things that you’ve done well.
But I just see his consistency over and over again. I’m sure he has made some big-time plays that you guys have seen. That throw to [WR] A.J. [Brown] on the vertical route was awesome.
It’s just really been his consistency. I think he is operating at a very high level as far as within the offense just understanding even more so why we do things, how we do things, and he’s really like a coach on the field with those things like that.
I think our conversations in the quarterback room, they just keep getting deeper and deeper as far as how we really are dissecting all the things that we’re doing, the things that were complementing of things that we already do well.
Again, I’ve said this 1,000 times about Jalen. He’s going to reach his ceiling, whatever that is, because of all the things that he has inside of him. I just see that continuing to show out, and I see him continuing to get better. I’m really pleased with how he has been so far throughout camp. Again, I just see continued improvement and continued consistency with Jalen.
Q: Along those lines, are you looking for specific things in QB Jalen Hurts now that you weren’t a year or two ago when he was younger in his development? (Dave Zangaro)
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, you want to see the development on all your players of them being more comfortable, them continuing to get better. I wouldn’t say I have a benchmark of anything that I want to see or anything like that. I just want to see him operating at a high level.
Training camp, you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to have some great plays, and it’s just about sorting through them and getting better every day. So, I’m just, again, pleased with his consistency.
Q: At running back it’s obviously a lot different than last year where you were pretty clear that former Eagles RB Miles Sanders was your guy. Are you envisioning a pure running back class committee this year? (Tim McManus)
NICK SIRIANNI: It can look any way. Again, we’re early on with pads. Running backs show out when their pads are on even more so.
Again, you’re just looking for different things that they can do. You always adapt to what your players do well, but also, there are some things that you want to be able to run. You want to be like, ‘All right, who can do this job well and who can do this job well and who can do this job well?’ Sometimes it’s the same person throughout, and sometimes it’s by committee.
We’ll see how it plays out. We’re still learning some of the new guys and what they’ve done, but I’m really pleased with the new guys, and I’ve really liked with [RB] D’Andre [Swift] and with [RB] Rashaad [Penny].
And then I’m really pleased. Obviously, we’ve been through [RB] Kenny [Gainwell] and [RB] Boston [Scott] have been productive the last two years and have made a lot of plays for us the past two years not only in the season, but in the playoffs.
Then I can’t say enough about [RB] Trey [Sermon]. We were really excited to get him last year. He was able to get some game reps. We really liked him in practice. So, it’s a good thing when you have competition at a position because it just brings out the best in everybody.
But, again, it can look any way we need it to look. We’ll see. We’ll see as we continue down the road, we’ll see. Good thing is I don’t have to make a decision on how it needs to look quite yet.
Q: Going back to the first year and how much you leaned on former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Frank Reich for head coach stuff. How much do you find current Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Shane Steichen and current Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Jonathan Gannon now reaching out to you? (Bo Wulf)
NICK SIRIANNI: [Jokingly] They don’t call me as much as I called Frank. But no, I miss those guys. I miss being around them. Not only were they great coaches, but also good friends of mine. I’ll always check in on them. I tried to call Jonathan yesterday.
Obviously, he didn’t answer, though, but he’s busy, right? He’s busy.
I always tell them I’m there for them if they need anything, but you know what, they were around me for two years and plus, right, with some other things. I think they have some of the answers that they know I’ll give to them, but I enjoy talking to them.
Again, like I said, I miss them, and I miss the people that they are and being around the building and seeing them every day.
So, I’ll talk to them every once in a while, but they don’t need my help anymore. They got what they need from me, but I’ll be glad to help them any time I can unless it’s a week where we’re playing them.
Q: S K’Von Wallace got some first team reps. What goes into that? Do the defensive coaches go to you and say they’d like him to get some work in with the first team? (John McMullen)
NICK SIRIANNI: A lot of different ways that works. You earn your first team reps, so K’Von has done a nice job. K’Von has done well for us on special teams these past two years, and now he’s got an opportunity. There’s some safety spots open, and he has an opportunity to be able to be in the mix.
When you look at different guys in different spots as far as in the rotation, you want to see how they operate with the ones. You want to see if they’re normally with the twos. K’Von has earned reps, and that’s just how that situation went. He’s earned reps.
There’s a spot being battled for, and he is in the mix for that.
Q: You’ve now started to learn things through these first few days of camp. What are some takeaways from practice? (Ed Kracz)
NICK SIRIANNI: I just think our guys, when they’re out here and they’re grinding and they’re working their butts off, and so it was an intense practice. It’s a physical practice, and that’s who we pride ourselves on being is a physically tough football team.
You saw that in our practice the way our offense and defensive line went against each other each period and then also the way our defense tried to take away the ball and our offense tried to protect the football.
I just thought it was a physical practice to start off with pads. You know, we look to build on that because we know that we pride ourselves in being physical. When we’re late in the season or even early in the season, we want to win games because we’re a physical team because that’s what football is, right?
A lot of the times the more physical team wins. There’s a lot else that goes into that, I understand, but we pride ourselves on that because of the guys we have on this team.
Q: Every time you talk about the running backs you include RB Trey Sermon who hasn’t played that much. What did he show last year to include him in that core of young guys? (Reuben Frank)
NICK SIRIANNI: We really liked Trey coming out, first and foremost, of Ohio State. We really liked him.
When guys get drafted, sometimes you bang the table and are, like shoot, you know, you can’t get everybody, so we were really excited to get him when we got him last year.
Again, when he was in, he was in a deep running back group last year. When he was in and had plays, opportunities, we thought he did a good job.
But, you know, that’s what we all saw. That’s what you guys saw. That’s what we saw, but we saw it every day in practice. Just the consistency, the athleticism, his quickness, his physicality. He’s a big, good-looking guy, and we really value that style of run that he has, and we saw that every day.
Again, we’re treating practice just like we treat a game. So we’re going to see what we need to see in practice, and he showed a lot to us last year.
Q: What have you seen from QB Marcus Mariota? I know he has had interceptions and stuff like that, but how is he adjusting on the field? (Martin Frank)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously he’s just learning a new offense. His skill set has some similarities in some of the ways he runs it to [QB] Jalen [Hurts]. So, getting him up-to-date to why we do things because everything may be a little different, right, of if you are running a zone read, maybe we tell him to read it a little differently than maybe he has learned in the past or taking a play — a drop-back pass that he might read it a little different. It’s just getting him caught up to speed, and he is continuing to do that.
I think you see his athletic ability on display. He made a really nice play the other day in practice where he got flushed out of the pocket, stepped up, and ripped a crossing route to [WR] Greg Ward. I thought that just showed the kind of player we saw on tape and why we wanted him here. We’re pleased with where he is, and he is just going to continue to get better as he gets more comfortable in this scheme.
Q: What has stood out to you so far about RB D’Andre Swift? (Jeff McLane)
NICK SIRIANNI: He’s a playmaker. He’s a playmaker. Very serious. Comes to work every day looking to get better.
I think that’s the best way to explain him that he is a playmaker, and you see it in practice that he can create mismatches that when you get him the football, he can catch the football and make plays with it and also in the backfield. It’s different catching the ball on the outside than it is coming out of the backfield.
Sometimes you look at backs and when you are looking to evaluate backs coming out of college — and I’m speaking of the pass game right now — we say to ourselves, does he have running back hands or does he have receiver hands because it’s different. Catching the ball on the perimeter is a different feel than it is when you’re catching it coming out of the backfield
He’s really shown — I think what we’ve really seen is you’re going to be able to move him around multiple spots because of his ability not only with his athletic ability, his quickness in and out of breaks and his speed, but also the way he catches the football. It looks like a wide receiver catching the football out there.
Credit to him. Just what he was blessed with, but also the work that he’s put in to continue to develop his hands, so he can be a dual-threat running back.
Q: You’ve got a first-place schedule this year. You guys are still one game at a time, one day at a time. As you’re trying to instill urgency in the guys, do you talk about it with them big picture-wise? (David Murphy)
NICK SIRIANNI: No. No. Big picture-wise I think, again, you just focus in on the day that you’re at. You can’t win two games until you win one. We’re all locked in, but you can’t win that one game until you put in the work each week.
Right now, we’re locked into training camp putting in the work today at practice. Then we’ll go in and put work into recovery. We’ll put work into nutrition. We’ll put work into meetings. We’ll put work into walk-through, but all we’re focused on is today.
I think that’s the best mindset to have of not looking too far ahead of yourself and just being where you are today because all it’s about is getting better so you can be successful down the road.
Q: There’s a debate on running backs around the league. What’s your perspective on that issue, and especially because you’re close with some players who are in the middle of that? (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, I’m fortunate. I get to coach football out there, and I don’t have to deal with contracts or deal with anything like that, and I’m really appreciative of [Eagles Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] that he deals with that.
Obviously he asks me questions of what I think about guys, but I don’t have to get involved with discussions with players or agents or anything like that.
I’m very grateful for that because that’s not my expertise. That’s his expertise. I don’t really have a thought in it or a comment on it. You just want to see your best guys be rewarded. Hopefully that’s with you and you continue to be able to work with the guys that have done well for you.
