The Philadelphia Eagles are making moves to bring their defence back to the level that brought them to the big game last year.
According to NFL Insider Adam Schefter, Vic Fangio is reportedly set to sign his contract Friday to become the next Eagles' defensive coordinator.
The news comes after the former Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator mutually parted ways with the organization. Fangio now gets a chance to work with a team that is stacked with talent but underperformed drastically in expectations in 2023.
The Eagles hired defensive co-ordinator Sean Desai last off-season as the successor to Jonathan Gannon, who was hired to coach the Arizona Cardinals. Desai was demoted halfway through the season as he relinquished play-calling duties to Matt Patricia.
The team continued to leak oil defensively, and ultimately Desai was dismissed after Philadelphia bowed out of the playoffs with a 32-9 upset loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round.
The Eagles were a force defensively in 2022. The No. 2-ranked defence led by a stacked secondary snagged 27 takeaways and their pass-rushing unit clobbered quarterbacks for 70 sacks on the season.
Despite adding key defensive pieces like safety Kevin Byard and linebacker Shaquille Leonard, Philadelphia fell to the No. 26-ranked total defence. Their defence plummeted to the second-worst pass defence in the league, and they recorded just 47 sacks on the season.
To make things more dire, only two teams finished with a higher points allowed per game total than the Eagles: the Washington Commanders and the Cardinals, who together had a combined eight wins.
Fangio joined Miami in 2023, leading the Dolphins to finish within the top ten of many defensive stats, including 10th in yards allowed, and 22nd in points allowed. Miami also finished third in the NFL with 56 recorded sacks, and tied for eighth in the league with 27 total forced turnovers.
The 65-year-old was a consultant for Philadelphia in their 2022-2023 Super Bowl run before being hired by Miami in the off-season.
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