The local media and fans were introduced to Jonathan Gannon and his tremendous display of energy during the first-year defensive coordinator’s zoom session on Thursday.
Gannon has a ton of experience and promises to bring a unique approach with his defensive scheme. When asked what he was most excited about, the former Colts secondary coach referred to the talented defensive players already on the roster.
Getting here, I was most excited about the people that they had in place. We feel it’s a very talented defense. That’s a good job by [Eagles executive vice president/general manager] Howie [Roseman] and his personnel staff to get some good people in here.
So when the coaches got here, we evaluated the people on the roster and then targeted people that we wanted to look to add in free agency and obviously in the Draft. So just super excited to work with the guys that are here right now.
The scouting background that I had, it helped me to learn how to evaluate players, and we know that, when you evaluate players, you want to try to have a very specific vision for what they’re going to be doing, and I think we’ve done a good job with that.
Gannon spent the past three years in Indianapolis under Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. Before he arrived in Indianapolis, Gannon worked under Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.
He’ll look to build around a defensive front that now includes Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Derrick Barnett, Ryan Kerrigan, and Josh Sweat among others.
Alex Singleton and Eric Wilson are the big names at linebacker, while Darius Slay, Anthony Harris, and Rodney McLeod highlight talented players in the secondary.
