Potential Eagles free-agent targets with connections to Jonathan Gannon

Might Jonathan Gannon’s return influence how the Eagles attack free agency?

It’s been a roller-coaster ride for Jonathan Gannon over the past year. There’s no other way his journey can be described. Shortly after Nick Sirianni was named as the Philadelphia Eagles‘ head coach, he went to work on assembling his staff. Gannon, a man that spent the past three seasons with him in the Indianapolis Colts organization, was his choice to lead the defense.

Sirianni was Indy’s offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2020. J.G. also served as a part of Frank Reich’s staff. He was the defensive backs coach for the Colts over that same period.

One of the immediate questions that came after Gannon’s hire centered around the fact that he had never called plays before. Let’s just say there were growing pains.

J.G.’s defense saw criticism as they were bludgeoned on a week-in and week-out basis. There are moments where they looked like they had a handle on things, but they also made pedestrian quarterbacks look like Joe Montana.

Gannon was called out publicly by Fletcher Cox on one occasion and Javon Hargrave on another. People were calling for his job before the midpoint of the season. Somehow J.G. righted his ship but heading into the offseason, there’s much to fix on the defensive side of the ball.

Now, while that may not sound like a future head coach, by the time we reached the end of the Eagles’ season, Gannon was a candidate that several teams were interested in. Go figure.

In the end, several interviews led to nothing, and J.G. is expected to be Philadelphia’s D.C. again in 2022. The Birds are armed with draft capital and money to spend in free agency. The expectation is that holes will be filled on Gannon’s side of the ball.

Philly should and can be expected to be players in free agency. Some of the available talent has connections to you know who. Let’s take a look at a handful. Here are five guys that should have a market. Might the Philadelphia Eagles be among the interested parties?