Who Will the Eagles Swipe Right for their Next Offensive Coordinator?
We're using hinge prompts to find the perfect fit for Philly's playcaller
It’s officially cuffing season. The cusp of Valentine’s Day. This is the time of year when people listen to Brian McKnight and Jagged Edge. In the dead of winter, we all look for love in the right places. The ideal partner you can cuddle up and win a Super Bowl with. I am, of course, referring to the perpetual merry-go-round that is the NFL coaching switcheroo. A game of head coach musical chairs that’s given most football fans vertigo and a healthy dose of sports-related anxiety.
There are officially six teams still looking for head coaches after the New York Harbaughs, the Hotlanta Stefanskis, and the Nashville Salehs chose their leader of the (near) future. On top of those six teams, two additional teams are looking to fill their vacant offensive coordinator role: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and my Philadelphia Eagles. After a successful short-term fling with Kellen Moore that resulted in the Super Bowl, the Eagles are looking bounce back from a bad hookup with ex-offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who was a nice guy but couldn’t give the Eagles what they needed out of a relationship. He was unfortunately schematically ill-equipped and honestly a little clingy.
Since then, the Eagles have seen the man of their dreams, the Neo of the Matrix of offensive coordinators Mike McDaniel, decline their advances for a (literally) hotter partner in the Los Angeles Chargers. So the Eagles are left scrolling the apps for the perfect partner to build something with.
To help, we’re going to take a look at what the ideal offensive coordinator looks like for Philadelphia through none other than prompts you would see on the dating app Hinge. These prompts help you those in search of love find the right partner. As Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman, and Nick Sirianni scroll through the Brian Dabolls, Joe Bradys, and Jim Bob Cooters of the world, maybe aligning these prompts would inspire them to swipe right on their offensive coordinator of the future.
In his tenure as the offensive coordinator of the Cowboys, Kellen Moore’s offenses averaged a ranking of 11th in EPA/Play. With the Chargers, Moore’s offense ranked 18th in EPA/Play. In his two seasons as offensive coordinator of the Chargers, Shane Steichen’s offenses ranked 11th and 15th in EPA/Play, respectively. The Eagles don’t necessarily need a playcalling wunderkind to guide their offense (although that would be nice). They need a solid playcaller with enough experience to understand the rhythms of a game and how to take advantage of the talent at their disposal. An established playcaller with prior success also has the gravitas to challenge Sirianni and maintain full control over the offensive scheme. Both playcallers the Eagles promoted, who had no prior playcalling experience (Brian Johnson and Kevin Patullo), were fired after one season. Sometimes falling in love is about learning from our mistakes.
The Sirianni offense is a steel cage. It hamstrings playcallers due to its inherent lack of motion, simplified concepts, and hitch routes run at a league-high rate. The Birds need someone who is going to challenge Sirianni to evolve his offensive system and modernize his beliefs. To eliminate what’s not working and transform what is. Jalen Hurts has significantly regressed as a passer, posting the second-worst EPA/Play and worst success rate of his career. He’s become more conservative, avoids the middle of the field, and relies on what he does best instead of expanding his game. Long-time Eagles reporter Derrick Gunn described the situation back in November, saying:
“Those things that [get] dissected on film [and] during practice, those things that are talked about among the quarterback coach, the offensive coordinator, the head coach, it has been constantly discussed all season long. Yet, when they transition to the field on a football game, [Hurts] plays his game. Not the game the coaches want him to play. He plays his game. I don’t think you can get out of that mode at this particular point. I think it’s what we’re going to have to watch all season long, is him playing his game.”
Philadelphia needs an offensive coordinator who will challenge Hurts to do the things he’s uncomfortable with. To grow in new ways that can expand his game. The key here is the quarterback coach hire that joins the new offensive head honcho in South Philly. I’m a fan of current quarterback coach Scot Loeffler, but the Eagles might do best to get fresh blood in the building to push Hurts outside of his comfort zone. All evidence shows that Jalen Hurts will do whatever it takes to win, and he’s proven he can improve season to season. The right coordinator fit can get the most out of him.
The Eagles’ passing game is as anemic as a malnourished Dracula. As I wrote earlier in the season, it seems like A.J. Brown runs three routes: a hitch, a go-route, and a slant. The Eagles started to diversify A.J.’s route tree later in the season by incorporating in-breakers and crossing routes, but it was too little too late. The Birds’ offensive strength, outside of a fully healthy offensive line, is their All-Pro wide receiving core. The new offensive coordinator needs to incorporate a diversified route tree that puts A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in positions to do what they do best. That includes getting A.J.the ball on the run so he can tap into his YAC ability and getting DeVonta going out of the slot in the middle of the field. With safety valve Dallas Goedert most likely moving on to a new team, finding ways to get the most out of A.J. and DeVonta could define the success of the Eagles’ passing game next year.
The best playcallers put their players in the best position to succeed. One way to do that is to avoid predictability in your offensive scheme. Last season, Philly’s offense was as predictable as a Real Housewife getting in a shouting match. Defenses keyed in on what they were most likely to do based on their formations. A way to improve both the running and the passing game is to marry those concepts together.
Incorporate a multitude of playcalls and shifts out of individual formations so the defense can’t tell what’s coming. Use the passing game to open up similar looks for the running game instead of treating them like two separate priorities or focusing on establishing the run first. This gives Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and the pass catchers more easy buttons when catching the defense off guard.
This new coordinator will also be tasked to work with Jeff Stoutland to get a struggling running game back on track. They need someone with experience in finding the answers. By diversifying their looks and potentially handing protections back to Cam Jurgens at center, the Eagles could give their running game a much-needed jump start.
Philadelphia’s offense is at its best when Jalen Hurts uses his legs. In 2025, Hurts ran for the lowest yards and the fewest touchdowns in his career, eliminating a key part of his game. The new offensive coordinator needs to find ways to get Hurts to use his legs by setting up more favorable and timely quarterback runs to force the defense to respect the threat of his legs. That also means incorporating more quarterback roll-outs and shifting the pocket to misdirect the defense’s front seven. Klayton Adams and Sean Payton do a great job of shifting the pockets for Dak Prescott and Bo Nix to neutralize the pass rush and give their quarterbacks the ability to run off of play action.
Back in the Andy Reid and Doug Pederson eras, the screen game was a focal point of Philly’s offense (almost to a frustrating degree). But for some reason, the Sirianni offense has gotten away from them. Screens are a great way to keep the pass rush honest and a way to get players who excel at yards after contact, like Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, and A.J. Brown, the ball in favorable positions. Bring back the screen!
Backup running backs became a non-factor in 2025. Saquon Barkley had 65 fewer carries this year in the regular season than last year for some reason. But in 2025, backup running back Tank Bigsby had only 58 carries and 3 receptions despite averaging 5.9 yards per attempt. In 2024, backup runningback Kenneth Gainwell had 75 carries averaging 3.9 yards per attempt and 73 receptions. Getting Tank Bigsby involved is not only about keeping Saquon Barkley fresh for a full season, but an indicator that the coordinator is making the most out of all of the tools at his disposal. I will also need the new offensive coordinator to rip the page that has Will Shipley's 3rd down carries out of the playbook.
The offensive coordinator position in Philadelphia is a springboard to becoming a head coach in the league. The two coordinators with prior playcalling experience (Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore) became head coaches after their Super Bowl years. Despite the narrative, the opportunity to coach an uber-talented offense with the proven potential to become a head coaching candidate is a dream for your average offensive playcaller. As far as offensive coordinator positions go, this Philly job is the best out there.