There’s sure to be debate on this one.
Leading up to the Super Bowl last season, the Eagles brought in Vic Fangio to be a consultant for the offense. Particularly from the time with the Broncos, he essentially simulated the defense the Chiefs would have in the Super Bowl so the offense would better be able to beat them.
The Eagles offense certainly seemed well-prepared and put up 35 points despite having a run game that didn’t get going. Of course, they couldn’t plan to be playing on some ice rink that tops the worst fields the NFL has played on in over 30 years.
From reports, it seems that Fangio was a top option to replace Jonathan Gannon and the Eagles were hoping he would do so. Unfortunately, despite the tampering Gannon did that perhaps cost the Eagles a Super Bowl and lost them a year of real defensive play, the team was not in a position that they could sign Fangio before the Dolphins did. They wound up without a DC until basically the draft, which obviously didn’t turn out well.
It was reported that Fangio would leave the Dolphins in such a way that it sounds like he basically spoke with the team and told them he wanted to coach for his home town team in Philadelphia. Ultimately, they agreed to release him from his contract and he was almost immediately rumored to be the Eagles hire. The hiring for 2024-25 was made official on Saturday, however.
Welcome to Philly, Coach Fangio!#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/MtIK5ECjDa
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 27, 2024
On one hand, Fangio is respected across the league and has lead top defenses for years. He even had a middle of the road defense with Miami last year despite all of their star players missing a lot of time.
On the other hand, he’s the architect of the scheme that the Eagles have been using for a few years now. The split safety looks with defenders playing well off of their man is a scheme he’s credited with creating, though he certainly mixes up coverage and pressure looks after the snap far more and far better than anything Eagles fans saw last year.
Still, that same scheme remaining in place is likely to drive some fans crazy.
Fangio would seem unlikely to be a candidate for head coaching jobs again any time soon, so at the very least he should be able to bring some stability to the defense provided he can keep the defense playing well enough to maintain the DC position.
It could also lead to personnel issues since Fangio’s top defenses have usually come with strong linebackers and safeties, an area the Eagles struggled with last season.
The hire is being praised as a home run around the league, but fans will need to wait until next season to see if it truly works out.
