PHILADELPHIA - One man’s scapegoat is another man’s ascending young coach.
That may not be quite as catchy as “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” but it does describe the NFL coaching version of the sentiment.
As previously reported by SI.com’s Eagles Today, Alex Tanney’s likely landing spot was going to be Indianapolis under former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen.
And that’s because the man who didn’t value the former Eagles quarterbacks coach was not the head coach and close personal Steichen friend Nick Sirianni but team owner Jeffrey Lurie, who demanded his pound of flesh for the team’s ugly late-season collapse.
In fact, a team source reported last year that Steichen would have taken Tanney to Indianapolis with him but he and Sirianni had an understanding not to poach valued assistants.
John McMullen/Eagles Today
Fast forward to the present and most of Sirianni’s 2023 coaching staff has been gutted, led by coordinators Brian Johnson and Sean Desai, as well as late-season defensive play-caller Matt Patricia.
Many others have been sacrificed, including Tanney, with more to come.
Once labeled a rising star by Sirianni, Tanney, 36, first joined the Eagles' staff in 2021 as a quality control coach fresh off a nearly decade-long playing career.
By 2022, Tanney was the assistant quarterbacks coach under Johnson, working day-to-day with Jalen Hurts, and then took over the positional coach role last season when Johnson was promoted to replace Steichen.
Hurts and the Eagles’ offense was so good in 2022 that many in the organization viewed Johnson as a potential one-and-done candidate at OC with a potential head-coaching position in the offing sooner rather than later. In that scenario, it would not have been a stretch to believe Tanney may have been the OC by Year 4 of his coaching career in 2024.
“He is super smart, super intelligent. He connects with the players,” Sirianni said of Tanney in the spring of 2023. “Playing for ten years in the NFL, he has this instant connection there. He’s really worked to get everything he has.
“I really admire that in Alex.”
There is no word on what Tanney’s role will be on the Colts staff to start but Steichen’s quarterbacks coach from last season – Cam Turner – remains in place.
And that means Steichen will likely be creating some kind of role for Tanney, another indication that not everyone thinks Tanney was a pox on Hurts and the Eagles season in 2023.
The Colts’ offensive coordinator remains Jim Bob Cooter, who was a Sirianni consultant with the Eagles in 2021 and an early name floated as a potential OC for Philadelphia for 2024 before it became clear that Sirianni was instructed to go outside his “family” of coaches for “fresh ideas.”
So far on the offensive side, the Eagles have named Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator and play-caller and hired his consigliere in Dallas and the LA Chargers, Doug Nussmeier, as quarterbacks coach.
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Associate head coach and passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland are returning while senior offensive assistant Marcus Brady left to become the passing game coordinator for Jim Harbaugh with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Decisions still have to be made at running backs coach (Jemal Singleton), wide receivers (Aaron Moorehead), and tight ends (Jason Michael).
Tanney will likely be quickly forgotten in Philadelphia. Still, it would be wise to monitor his ascent or descent as a coach in the future and whether or not assigning blame is the right couse of action when it comes to nebulous expectations.