Eagles coaching, roster changes could eventually land compensatory picks
News travels quickly, doesn’t it? You aren’t sneaking any information past Philadelphia Eagles fans. That’s for doggone sure. The ink is barely dry on Brian Johnson‘s new contract, one that assures he’ll walk into the 2023-2024 NFL season as the Birds’ offensive coordinator, yet here we are. We’re hours deep into conversations about what he did at Florida with the Gators, and how Jalen Hurts can continue his upswing as a legitimate face of the franchise and MVP-level quarterback under his tutelage.
All eyes are on Indianapolis as pro football’s 32 franchises prepare for another NFL Scouting Combine. On Tuesday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and vice president/general manager Howie Roseman spoke with members of the media after Philly announced coaching changes.
They have now officially confirmed that Sean Desai has been hired as the team’s new defensive coordinator.
Below are a couple of tweets from the team’s official Twitter handle if you’re interested. For a deeper dive by Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro on the promotion of Johnson and the announcement of new roles for Alex Tanney, Marcus Brady, and T.J. Paganetti click here to read his thoughts.
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1630661718249447432
We've agreed to terms with Sean Desai to become our new Defensive Coordinator. Welcome to Philly!#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/rjqmoP2pMo
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 28, 2023
The Eagles could acquire compensatory picks down the road thanks to their new hires.
The Eagles have a lot of work to do this offseason. They have 20 impending free agents to make decisions on. They are limited with both cap space and six draft choices, but Philly is always thinking about the future. Expect them to demonstrate that again during the free-agency frenzy and in the NFL Draft.
Here’s something else to think about. Philadelphia figures to be awarded compensatory picks after losing many of their 2022 starters. It’s impossible to determine how many picks they’ll receive and what round they’ll be awarded for, but that isn’t where the good news ends.
There stands a chance that they could receive further draft compensation thanks to the hiring of minority coaches. Hopefully, we’re tears away from that being a conversation, but if they move on for better opportunities (a very real possibility), Philadelphia could be awarded further draft compensation as well.
2020 Resolution JC-2A of the Rooney Rule states employing clubs of minority employees who see those candidates hired by another club as its head coach or general manager are to be awarded third-round compensatory draft picks. If minority employees are hired by other teams for both positions, their former team is awarded third-round draft choices during three consecutive drafts that follow the hire.
Hopefully, that draft compensation for departing players comes soon. Hopefully, we won’t have to involve ourselves in discussions about compensation for departing coaches for a while.
We’ve all seen the importance of consistency, and it should be fun to see what this staff can accomplish if they’re together for a while. Fingers are crossed that Michael Clay’s special teams unit can step it up some, but we all should be happy with Brian Johnson’s promotion and Sean Desai’s hire.
