Former Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai has reportedly found a new job.
The Los Angeles Rams are expected to hire Desai in a “senior defensive role,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported.
Desai, 40, didn’t last a full season as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator. The Eagles hired him for that role last February to replace Jonathan Gannon after Gannon left for the head coaching job in Arizona. But Desai was demoted in Week 15 in favor of Matt Patricia.
Since the end of the season, the Eagles fired Desai and let Patricia walk after his contract ran out. The Eagles’ defense wasn’t very good under Desai but it at least had some good moments. That side of the ball was a complete disaster after the reins were handed to Patricia.
Instead of firing Desai during the season, the Eagles demoted him. And Desai even kept his official title as defensive coordinator and held a press conference the week of the Seahawks game after the demotion.
A couple days after the loss in Seattle, head coach Nick Sirianni explained why he kept Desai on staff.
“I know Matt (Patricia) valued his opinion and his vision and was really — I really admire how Sean went about his business last week,” Sirianni said on Dec. 20. “I think any of us that have been in a situation where things didn’t go the way we wanted it to go, you can go two ways with that.
“It really speaks volumes of the person and the coach that Sean is and the character that Sean has that he did everything he could do to help the football team. That’s why Sean is here, and we know he can help us continue moving forward and really excited to have him continuing to have a role on this team and on this staff.”
It’s unclear exactly what Desai’s role will be with the Rams but one of his best games of the 2023 season came in Los Angeles in Week 5. The Eagles won that game 23-14 and Desai’s defense held Sean McVay’s Rams to just 249 total yards. The Eagles were 5-0 after that win.
The Eagles are scheduled to play the Rams in LA in 2024.
Before joining the Eagles, Desai was a defensive assistant with the Seahawks in 2022 and was the Bears’ defensive coordinator in 2021. He previously coached safeties and was a quality control coach in Chicago, where he worked under Vic Fangio.
The Eagles got a late start in their DC search last offseason and actually didn’t hire Desai until they got to the Combine. They got that late start after Gannon’s late departure for Arizona, which took away the opportunity to hire Fangio, who had been on staff as a consultant during the 2022 playoff run.
This offseason, the Eagles righted that wrong, hiring Fangio after he parted ways with the Dolphins. Desai worked under Fangio and considers him one of his biggest influences, but Fangio is the originator of his defense. The Eagles have revamped most of their defense staff under him since the end of the season.
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