Nick Sirianni's ability to adapt again will be put to the test in year six with the Eagles. A mid-March snowstorm dumped more than 26 inches of snow in Green Bay, the second-largest snowfall on record in the city that houses a football stadium nicknamed "The Frozen Tundra."
Flights were canceled, which meant new Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, a few weeks into the job and prior to his family making its move east, was facing a delay returning to the office. It was a few days into free agency, and NFL draft prep was in full swing.
Mannion could have picked up the phone and called his new boss, Nick Sirianni, to tell him his return trip to Philadelphia would be delayed. Instead, he got in the car and started driving the 900-plus mile route to his new home. Sirianni called his new offensive coordinator to check in and was surprised to learn that Mannion was five hours away.
"This dude loves football and he loves to work," Sirianni said last month during an extended interview session with Eagles beat reporters. "I’ve really enjoyed being around him."
"I think we think — about everybody — ‘Man, he’s just got it.’ But it doesn’t happen — whether it’s a player, whether it’s Sean — without this obsession to get better. Sean has this obsession to get better, this obsession with his craft, which is why he’s excelled in this profession and I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with him."
Mannion is the fourth Eagles offensive coordinator in four years, and the Eagles hired him to revamp an offense that took a step back in 2025 for a variety of reasons. The team didn’t come close to defending its Super Bowl title in part because its offense wasn’t capable. The offensive line was too banged up. Jalen Hurts was inconsistent at times. Saquon Barkley, behind a battered line, wasn’t the Barkley that dominated in 2024. A.J. Brown wasn’t happy. And Kevin Patullo, the first-year offensive coordinator, appeared not up for the job.
Mannion, 34, is another first-year coordinator, but he brings a sense of freshness to the Eagles and Sirianni having worked under a different coaching tree that surely will lead to scheme changes with the Eagles in 2026 and beyond.
Sirianni is entering his sixth season with the Eagles. It is the longest stretch of time the 45-year-old head coach has spent in one place since becoming a coach. It is not unfair to say his future in Philadelphia could rest on how Sirianni helps the Eagles adapt to another new voice leading the offense and moves the franchise into its next stage.
Sirianni has done his best to not repeat often. Lately, he has found himself going to ChatGPT for inspiration. One day during the offseason program, Sirianni typed a prompt into the artificial intelligence assistant. He wanted to find a "true" — yes, he knows that the AI isn’t perfect yet — sports story that exemplified the three-word motto Lane Johnson and DeVonta Smith probably find themselves reciting in their dreams: Tough. Detailed. Together.
The chatbot spit out the story of Arizona State wrestler Anthony Robles, who, despite being born with one leg, went undefeated as a senior and won the 2011 national championship at 125 pounds in Philadelphia. Sirianni did some more research on Robles and had his next story for a team meeting.
Sirianni said he noticed something when watching the NBA and NHL playoffs this year. The Knicks and the Spurs, the Hurricanes and the Golden Knights, they all said the same things, the same messages he’s been repeating her for more than five years.
"There’s a common denominator of these good teams that they just want to play for each other," Sirianni said. "We’ve talked a lot about that and tried to live that. That’s tricky and that’s hard. How do you come together as a football team? You come together through shared hardships. You get that through the offseason. You come together through building trust, consistently doing what you’re supposed to do. And you come together through the time that you put in with each other. That time, sometimes it feels like it’s invisible progress."
"Our best teams since I’ve been here have been the closest teams. We believe in that very much."
How close will this team become? How will Mannion bring the offense to the next level? How will Sirianni help the Eagles navigate the changes and reach the high expectations in the building? The answers to those key questions won’t be known for a few months. The Eagles begin camp next week, and a key season in Sirianni’s career trajectory is about to get underway.
"It’s a blessing to be at a place for so long in the NFL," Sirianni said, "and I look forward to continuing that for years to come."
