PHILADELPHIA — New Eagles coach Nick Sirianni didn’t offer any reassurances to disaffected quarterback Carson Wentz in Sirianni’s introductory news conference Friday, or many specifics of how he plans to move forward in fixing a team coming off a 4-11-1 season.
Sirianni, 39, seemed excited and maybe a bit nervous when he took center stage after a nearly 16-minute introduction from team owner Jeffrey Lurie. Sirianni said he has talked to quarterbacks Wentz and Jalen Hurts, whom he called “top-notch quarterbacks,” but naming a starter, or having a time frame to name a starter “hasn’t even crossed my mind yet.”
Lurie alluded to the team’s brain trust having spent 10 to 12 hours interviewing Sirianni, who emerged, Lurie said, from a 25-member field of candidates that was narrowed to 10 for interviews. Asked if Wentz’s puzzling decline last season was a major topic of that interview, Sirianni said “it was all on the table.” Asked if he could say that Wentz definitely will be an Eagle this coming season, Sirianni said he couldn’t say.
Asked if there would be an open competition for the starting role, Sirianni said: “That’s something we have to evaluate, I’m not ready to say that either way yet. We’re just evaluating our players, evaluating every position. ... We don’t know any of these guys, really, yet, from what we’ve seen on tape so far, because we haven’t watched any. ... Every position is going to be evaluated, and every position is going to be ‘open,’ I guess, to say, and we can’t wait to start watching the tape and seeing what our players can do.”
Wentz, 28, who would carry a $34 million dead salary cap charge if traded, was benched in favor of Hurts for the season’s final four games. Wentz is said to be contemplating whether he wants to start over elsewhere. Asked if he feels the Eagles-Wentz relationship can be saved, Sirianni said: “I can’t speak on that.”
Lurie did not take questions or mention the quarterbacking situation, and general manager Howie Roseman was not part of the news conference.
Sirianni said he plans to call plays, something he did not do in his previous job as the Indianapolis offensive coordinator under former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich.
Asked about his offensive philosophy, Sirianni said “We’re going to be multiple. We can attack multiple ways.” He referenced having had Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissette and Philip Rivers as the Colts’ starting quarterback the last three seasons.
“Those three teams looked different. ... They were all different in their own ways, of how we attacked defenses and how we played the game,” Sirianni said.
He said Roseman will have control of the 53-man roster, as was the case in the coaching regime of Doug Pederson, and that Sirianni will control who is active on game day.
Lurie praised the Eagles’ hiring process and thanked all the candidates who were interviewed.
He said he was “blown away by the level of expertise, the vision, the love for the game” the candidates all had.
Lurie focused on Sirianni’s ability to connect with players as the most important factor in choosing him. He called Sirianni “a very special communicator, not just a brilliant football IQ. ... Somebody who connects with everybody.”
Later, when Sirianni outlined his core principles, the first he listed was “connect with each other.”
