Cardinals rent Eagles’ Jonathan Gannon as new head coach

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The Arizona Cardinals employed Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as their new head coach on Tuesday, the workforce introduced.

Gannon acquired a five-year contract.

The transfer comes two days after the Eagles misplaced Super Bowl LVII to the Kansas City Chiefs 38-35 and Gannon’s protection gave up 24 second-half factors in letting a 10-point halftime benefit slip away.

The different two finalists for the job had been Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.

Gannon, 40, had been the Eagles’ defensive coordinator for the previous two seasons and instantly made an influence. He turned Philadelphia right into a top-10 protection in his first yr, and this season, the Eagles ranked No. 2 within the league whereas boasting two Pro Bowlers.

Philadelphia went from permitting 26.1 factors per sport (twentieth within the league) in 2020, the yr earlier than Gannon was employed, to 22.7 in 2021 (18th) and 20.2 in 2022 (eighth). The Eagles’ 78 sacks in 2022 had been the third most in a season in NFL historical past, together with playoffs.

Gannon replaces Kliff Kingsbury, who was fired in January after going 28-37-1 with one playoff look in 4 seasons, and turns into the Cardinals’ fourth head coach in seven years.

He inherits a roster set for an overhaul, with 31 gamers anticipated to grow to be unrestricted free brokers.

When Cardinals proprietor Michael Bidwill started his teaching search in January, he mentioned he would “cast the net far and wide.” He lived as much as his phrases, because the Cardinals are the final workforce to rent a coach this cycle after the Indianapolis Colts employed Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen on Tuesday.

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The final time a Super Bowl participant misplaced each its coordinators in the identical offseason was after the 2016 season, when the Atlanta Falcons misplaced offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who turned the San Francisco 49ers’ coach and fired defensive coordinator Richard Smith, who later took a job because the Chargers’ linebackers coach. Those adjustments got here after the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead in a 34-28 extra time defeat to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

The final Super Bowl workforce to lose each coordinators to head-coaching jobs was the 1994 49ers, when Mike Shanahan was employed by the Denver Broncos and Ray Rhodes was employed by the Eagles, in response to NFL Research.

Bidwill employed Gannon after being related to eight different candidates, together with Sean Payton, Brian Flores and Dan Quinn.

Arizona is coming off a 4-13 season. Since reaching the 2015 NFC Championship Game, the Cardinals have made only one playoff look, a wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams after the 2021 season.