Category: Sports

It’s rare that, in the same week in June, you see three separate stories that pull back the curtain on the most secretive team in town, the Philadelphia Eagles.

That’s what’s happened over the past few days. They sent NFL junkies into paroxysms of delight. They turned radio waves all atwitter with fresh meat during a typical time of famine.

The most significant and best done of the three pieces involved a look at Julian Lurie, who will one day ascend to the throne occupied by his father Jeffrey, who has owned the Eagles since 1993. Jeff McLane of The Inquirer gave us our first look at the sensitive 31-year-old who already lends his voice to the team’s biggest decisions, just as a crown prince should do.

Mike Silver was the most prolific and capable NFL profile writer when Sports Illustrated remained the industry standard 30 years ago, and he has not lost his fastball at the Athletic. Silver joined combustible coach Nick Sirianni at the Eagles’ annual playground construction project and walked away with superb detail regarding Sirianni‘s unlikely interview and subsequent hiring in 2021, all done from the beach, in flip-flops with a white board. But Silver also got an endorsement of Sirianni from superstar running back Saquon Barkley that sparked debate about how valuable and competent Sirianni is compared with his peers.

Finally, our old friend (and sometimes colleague) Joe Santoliquito, a local freelancer who specializes in in-depth exposés and, apparently, in infuriating Eagles executives. He dropped a brief piece on the Bleeding Green Nation website about the most polarizing figure in the city. The story indicates that starting quarterback Jalen Hurts is upset that the Eagles seem willing to replace him if he struggles to produce better numbers for a third straight season.

McLane‘s trademark thoroughness left little room for controversy or discussion despite the delicate nature of his subject, but that’s to be expected, since McLane is the best-sourced reporter in town.

But Barkley’s contention to Silver that Sirianni is “legendary,“ and Santoliquito‘s revelation that Hurts is unhappy … well, those struck a nerve.

Legendary?

Only four coaches who have coached at least 60 games, including playoffs, have a better winning percentage than Sirianni. All of them — Guy Chamberlin, Vince Lombardi, John Madden, and George Allen — are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sounds pretty legendary, right?

Barkley thinks so, as he told Silver:

“He doesn’t get enough credit at all, in my opinion. I don’t get why he doesn’t. Like, what he’s doing, in real time, is legendary.”

Is it, though?

A head coach’s primary job is to win games, to reach the playoffs, and to battle for a title. Sirianni has not missed the playoffs in any of his five seasons. He’s reached the Super Bowl twice. He’s won it once.

Sirianni did all that winning while developing Hurts, a quarterback of limited skills but unlimited ambition — a mirror, in some ways, of Sirianni himself. But that’s a different topic for a different day. He won while handling malcontent receiver A.J. Brown. He won while handling distractions that Sirianni himself created, mainly jeering fans of both his opponents and his own team.

Which brings us to the crux of the matter. Fairly, or not, the narrative surrounding Sirianni is that the team often wins in spite of its coach.

He has been heavily involved in the offense three times: 2021, 2023, and 2025. Each time, it foundered. The other two seasons, the Eagles went to the Super Bowl and the offensive coordinators were hired away as head coaches.

An elite defense and a legendary season from Barkley sent the Eagles to their second Super Bowl. Sirianni has no involvement with the defense, which was run by first-year coordinator Vic Fangio, and Sirianni is considered a pass-first coach.

When Sirianni was hired in 2021, he was required to retain Jeff Stoutland, the assistant coach who ran the best overall offensive line in the NFL from 2013-2025. Stoutland, like Fangio, operated with almost complete autonomy, and he was the run-game coordinator to boot.

Sirianni also took over a talent-heavy team from Doug Pederson, who was fired mainly because Carson Wentz didn’t want him around any more. Sirianni inherited a wealth of mature locker-room leaders with incredible pedigrees: elite tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata as well as center Jason Kelce; first-round receiver DeVonta Smith; defensive tackle Fletcher Cox; and defensive end Brandon Graham.

Finally, general manager Howie Roseman has consistently replenished the talent pool — Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Jordan Davis, Zach Baun, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, and Brown — to the degree that it’s fair to wonder if any coach could have failed to win, and win big.

So now you have a portrait of a coach with a sterling record but without a tangible identity. Nobody questions the character of Vince Lombardi, John Madden, or George Allen, and they all coached for at least a decade.

It’s hard to call anybody “legendary” five years into a career. Very good? Sure. Excellent? Maybe.

Legendary?

Let’s let that one breathe.

After all, Sirianni has always had stability at quarterback. Is that about to change?

Hurt feelings?

Like McLane, Santoliquito specializes in long-play reporting that coalesces into bombshell stories that cause a sensation. Such was the case in 2019, when his piece just after the disappointing 2018 season included Eagles sources who called Wentz “selfish,” “uncompromising,” and “egotistical,” with crippling insecurities. After the story ran, Santoliquito received death threats, had property vandalized, and was castigated by both the Eagles organization and by Wentz’s camp.

I ripped him, too, for not giving the Eagles a fairer chance to respond. He admitted his error to me.

Within weeks, however, Santoliquito’s reporting was largely confirmed … by Wentz himself.

Unlike the landmark Wentz story, the recent article about Hurts was an opinion piece. The headline read, “Philadelphia better watch itself, or it will lose another superstar,” and Santoliquito wrote, “The fear here is that Philadelphia may be pushing another superstar out of the door.”

On that: No athlete since Phillies slugger Dick Allen was “pushed out” of Philadelphia by either the fans, the team, or the media. Not future Hall of Fame third baseman Scott Rolen, who was traded after contract negotiations collapsed; not ace Curt Schilling or stud Charles Barkley, who embraced trades after the Phillies and Sixers proved unable to build around them; and not even, as Santoliquito suggested, Wilt Chamberlain, who sought the brighter lights and cooler culture of Los Angeles as the Sixers underwent seismic changes after the 1967-68 season.

In this instance, Santoliquito, who has long been close to people in Hurts’ camp, relays signals from those contacts that Hurts is displeased that:

1. The Eagles, who wrote the book on saving money with early contract extensions, have not offered Hurts an extension; and,
2. The Eagles did not support him well enough when an ESPN story on April 1, citing sources on the team, painted Hurts as stubborn, uncoachable, and reluctant. The fallout from the story created a narrative that these traits have the Eagles considering moving on from Hurts if he struggles with the more complex scheme of new coordinator Sean Mannion.

Two things.

First: So what? So what if 2026 is a prove-it year for Hurts? If he plays well, he gets paid. Trust me, he won’t turn down cash. If he doesn’t play well he might get traded.

Second: The Eagles were irate that, as in 2019, Santoliquito did not come to them for comment in a timely manner (or at all, in this instance). Broadly, that’s a fair point. However, it’s a strange complaint in this instance, since it’s irrelevant whether Eagles players, executives, and coaches actually sufficiently supported Hurts. They did have a few words of support to offer, but it was not overwhelming.

What’s relevant is that Hurts, or his camp, feels that they didn’t support him enough.

In Santoliquito’s opinion, that might cost the Eagles the services of Hurts at some point in the future.