PHILADELPHIA - For those who question what Nick Sirianni actually does as an NFL head coach, the disappointing 2025 Eagles' season is probably not the best evidence to support the idea that he is simply along for the ride as the lottery winner next to the impressive rosters assembled by GM Howie Roseman.
In discussions with multiple team and league sources, Sirianni felt compelled to step in more than ever last season when things began to unravel for the Eagles in the follow-up to their Super Bowl LIX-winning season.
The departure of longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland offered a glimpse into how difficult managing an NFL team can be for a head coach.
Independence Day
Jul 23, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland runs a warmup during training camp at NovaCare Complex. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Stoutland announced he was leaving the organization on Feb. 4 after the team attempted to retain him in a reduced role as offensive line coach — minus the run-game coordinator duties he had held since the Eagles created the position in 2018 pre-Sirianni.
The organization still greatly valued Stoutland, particularly his player-development skills and his elite teaching of technique and fundamentals. However, the decision had already been made to shift toward a Shanahan/McVay-style offense built around a wide-zone, stretch running scheme, something Stoutland didn't want to do this late into his career.
Sirianni and then-offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo had actually pulled the trigger on those changes last season when injuries to the offensive line left Saquon Barkley vulnerable to negative plays with limited creative freedom to combat the issues, especially when aligned offset in the shotgun.
“With the way the NFL is now, without getting too schematic, you see a lot of teams where they’re reading pure progressions, they’re handling all the junk that’s being thrown at you by the defense [in the passing game],” Sirianni said this spring. “Well, this version of the run game is kind of in that mix as well. It’s the run-game version of it, where there’s a lot of run-game junk being thrown at you, and this handles all of it.”
That “junk” — often unscouted looks from opposing defenses — snowballed into significant first-down problems in 2025. Those issues cascaded into difficult second- and third-and-long situations for a limited passing game, producing an offense that was neither aesthetically pleasing nor efficient — a deadly combination for Patullo, who essentially was scapegoated.
The inefficiency of the Eagles' offense is debated inside of the league with some defaulting to the simplicity of the passing offense being the main handicap despite the obvious similarities during the team's Super Bowl seasons pointing toward execution.
Sirianni first addressed the end of the relationship with Stoutland publicly before the scouting combine.
“The difference was that with every phase, I went in and did different things because, again, we were struggling offensively,” the head coach said. “We were struggling, so I was like, ‘What do I need to be able to do as the head coach to go in and help where we’re struggling here?’ That was in every phase.”
Sirianni cited third downs, the red zone (which was actually successful in 2025), short-yardage situations, play-action, the dropback game, and the run game.
He felt the need to assist the entire offensive staff — another sign that things were not clicking. In the offseason, along with Patullo and Stoutland, the Eagles also parted ways with quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler and tight ends coach Jason Michael.
Sirianni has long designed his coaching staffs to solve problems collaboratively. Stoutland, however, operated somewhat independently, essentially in a silo, thanks to his stature and reputation — not to mention the historic year his unit delivered in 2024.
More than one source described Stoutland as the best assistant coach in NFL history, regardless of franchise. On the organizational flowchart, though, Stoutland still reported to his head coach.
Whether Sirianni made the right call on the running game can be debated, but his authority to implement change was not in question.
“Not to get too much into exactly what it is, but there were changes to what we did,” Sirianni acknowledged. “But Stout did a lot of the stuff where he brought the ideas of what he was thinking and then he’d be like, ‘Hey, I want to run this particular run on our terms.’ It’s always been collaborative in everything we’ve done here.”
In the end, Sirianni has intimated on multiple occasions that the ground game and passing game were not being married up properly.
“I guess it was more collaborative as an entire group in the run game as opposed to run pod and pass pod, if that makes sense,” Sirianni said of the changes he implemented. “We felt that meshed up with our play-action a little bit better. I anticipate us doing that again — meeting as a group, all together as a run and pass game.”
That is the sanitized public version of what happened.
Behind closed doors, Stoutland did not want to be meddled with and felt slighted by Sirianni and Patullo becoming more involved. He believed he deserved the benefit of the doubt.
The organization also lamented the loss of T.J. Paganetti, Stoutland’s former assistant who was strong with running game concepts and left for New Orleans with Kellen Moore.
Add in the OL injuries, Barkley’s struggles and it all became the perfect storm that derailed the ground game next to a passing side incapable of handling a heavier load.
While the responses to fix the rushing attack improved things somewhat, it was still insufficient but Sirianni wanted to stay on course and break down that “independent pod” for good, making the process more inclusive, with more minds working on solutions.
The breaking point came this spring with the planned hiring of Ryan Mahaffey as run-game coordinator to assist new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion.
An NFL source told Eagles On SI that the organization wanted to control the announcement of the veteran assistant’s departure. Instead, Stoutland returned home and announced it himself via social media in the famed “Stout Out” post.
Early whispers that Stoutland would always be welcomed back or remain part of the organization were untrue. He remains under contract, though, and unable to coach elsewhere until next year. According to multiple sources, he is still upset with how he was treated.
On paper, Sirianni’s solutions seem sensible for 2026, but the optics of losing Stoutland are a difficult hurdle with the general public, especially when the projected answers -- Mannion, Mahaffey and new OL Coach Chis Kuper -- are far less experienced and largely unproven.
Sirianni has long maintained that everything the Philadelphia Eagles put on the field has his name on it. After stepping in during a season of significant turmoil, you should believe the head coach and evaluate him accordingly.
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