'I just want to give him his flowers': Eagles rally around Sirianni's contract extension

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles prima wide receiver A.J. Brown said helium didn't cognize however agelong Nick Sirianni's caller multiyear declaration ran, but that didn't halt him from synching his aboriginal with that of his caput coach.

"[Last week] I told him congrats, and I told him I'm done erstwhile he's done," Brown said.

Player aft subordinate who took to the podium connected Tuesday welcomed the quality of Sirianni's extension, a radical that included Brown, backmost Jalen Hurts and near tackle Jordan Mailata.

That makes plentifulness of sense. Philadelphia is coming disconnected a Super Bowl-winning campaign. Sirianni is 54-23 with the Eagles, including the postseason. His .701 triumph percent is the 5th champion by immoderate manager successful NFL past (minimum 75 games), per ESPN Research. He is the archetypal caput manager to gain 4 playoff appearances, 2 league championships and a Super Bowl rubric successful his archetypal 4 seasons.

But it's been a much turbulent thrust than the last results suggest.

Sirianni was a comparative chartless erstwhile squad president and CEO Jeffrey Lurie tabbed him to instrumentality implicit successful 2021 for Doug Pederson, who was the franchise's lone Super Bowl-winning manager astatine the time. The skepticism successful the metropolis grew exponentially erstwhile Sirianni struggled done his introductory quality conference.

The Eagles started 2-5 during his archetypal play astatine the helm, which Sirianni explained with a angiosperm analogy (growth happening nether the surface) that was wide ridiculed by a Philly instrumentality basal bladed connected patience.

Then determination was the 1-6 decorativeness to the 2023 play -- a illness fueled successful portion by the disconnect betwixt Sirianni and Hurts and that led to questions astir Sirianni's occupation security.

There was a agelong of clip erstwhile Hurts seemed to conflict to accidental thing affirmative publically astir Sirianni, but that changed pursuing past season's Week 5 bye, and things person appeared to beryllium trending successful a affirmative absorption since, arsenic the signal-caller's caller comments showed.

"First and foremost, congratulations to him," Hurts said. "Everything he's been capable to execute and accomplish, he's earned. And conscionable to spot his improvement and his maturation from my position and playing backmost for him his full full tenure here, it's been a large experience, it's been a large ride, it's been a batch of learning for the some of america -- and hopefully, we're conscionable getting started."

Talk of that improvement became a taxable arsenic Sirianni and the players reflected connected his clip astatine the helm.

"When I deliberation of Nick Sirianni and the maturation that helium has shown, I look astatine my maturation archetypal but I besides spot coach's growth," Mailata said. "And I deliberation astir that time... erstwhile helium talked astir the flower, and present I conscionable privation to springiness him his flowers. He's done a phenomenal occupation -- a phenomenal occupation of gathering the civilization of this locker room. And it's nary astonishment that helium got a multiyear contract.

"All the scrutiny he's gotten, and to beryllium capable to travel backmost each twelvemonth and preach the connection but besides close his mistakes and amusement accountability -- he's ever maine first, past you," helium added. "He means incredibly a batch to maine but besides this team, this franchise."

In announcing the hiring of Sirianni successful January 2021, Lurie called it "the culmination of a batch of thought that went into it, a batch of projection." It was not conscionable what Sirianni was successful the moment, Lurie said, but what helium could become.

Lurie knew helium wasn't hiring a finished product. Sirianni had ne'er been a caput manager successful the NFL before. (And that is the aforesaid for the different 4 coaches -- Ray Rhodes, Andy Reid, Chip Kelly and Pederson -- whom Lurie has hired during his clip moving the team.)

But Lurie identified Sirianni arsenic an "independent thinker" with a "football IQ disconnected the charts." Lurie saw idiosyncratic who had an borderline to him, and Lurie welcomed and encouraged it. That competitory occurrence has mostly served Sirianni well, but it besides has created unnecessary distractions, specified arsenic erstwhile helium jawed with immoderate location fans successful Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns past play oregon erstwhile helium had a tense speech with erstwhile Eagles standout choky extremity Zach Ertz pursuing a crippled against the Washington Commanders aboriginal successful the campaign.

Sirianni has worked to harness that fire, keeping a cooler caput connected the sideline and doing astir of his emoting retired of nationalist view.

Lurie believed Sirianni could physique a unit and was amendable to welcoming successful coaches extracurricular his circle. Lurie saw "someone that had an unlimited enactment ethic and a tendency to beryllium great."

Many of those qualities roseate to the aboveground implicit clip arsenic immoderate of the unsmooth edges smoothed out, starring to a precocious level of occurrence and a 2nd declaration that seemed similar a agelong changeable arsenic precocious arsenic aboriginal past season.

"Everybody that is striving to scope the apical of the upland oregon immoderate it is similar we effort to bash each azygous year, adversity is going to beryllium determination regardless," Sirianni said. "I truly look astatine immoderate adversity that I've ever been done successful my life, whether it was my limb wounded successful 2001, whether it was my dada going done cancer, whether it was the illness of our play astatine the extremity of the 2023 play and finishing 1-6.

"Every 1 of those things, whether it's scrutiny from... [my] archetypal property conference, I tin look astatine the bully successful each those things and find bully successful each those things and however it's shaped maine to beryllium who I americium contiguous and has made maine amended arsenic a effect of it. You ne'er privation to spell done those things arsenic you spell done them, but if you let it to signifier you, it truly does."