The Philadelphia Eagles offseason began much earlier than anyone in the franchise anticipated. Their swoon late in the regular season carried over into their playoff matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who defeated them easily, 32-9.
That marked six losses in their final seven games of the 2023 campaign as the Eagles fell apart down the stretch. While head coach Nick Sirianni will keep his job, the team has already begun making some major changes to his coaching staff.
This will be the third straight season Sirianni has a different offensive and defensive coordinator. Last offseason, it was Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon who departed for head coaching jobs with the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals.
Opportunities around the league are not why changes were made this time around. Offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, defensive coordinator Sean Desai and Matt Patricia have all been fired. Vic Fangio is taking over as defensive coordinator as the search for an offensive coach is ongoing.
Once the coaching staff is finalized, the Eagles will get to work on retooling their roster. The drop-off on both sides of the ball falls on the players as much as it does the coaching staff as they couldn’t consistently get the job done near the end of the season.
The defense was especially poor. Several key players defected in free agency and the Eagles just didn’t have the players to replace and replicate their production. That is a big reason why Aaron Schatz of ESPN has predicted Philadelphia will make a big splash in free agency, signing linebacker Frankie Luvu away from the Carolina Panthers.
“The Eagles will finally spend some money at the linebacker position by offering a big contract to Panthers free agent Frankie Luvu. He can play off the ball or off the edge, giving flexibility to whoever is calling the defensive plays in Philadelphia next season,” wrote Schatz.
Last offseason, the Eagles lost linebackers T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White in free agency to the Chicago Bears and Cardinals, respectively. The only offseason addition they made was Nicholas Morrow, as they hoped their young players would be able to step into bigger roles.
It was a risk that didn’t pan out as Philadelphia was bringing in veterans throughout training camp to try and fill the void. It played a big part in the Eagles finishing the season ranked 30th in points and 26th in yardage allowed.
Luvu would help fill the void the team has at the second level of their defense. He can do a little bit of everything, providing Philadelphia with some versatility. In the last two seasons on the Panthers, he has truly broken out, recording 12.5 sacks, 236 total tackles with 29 tackles for loss.