PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Emergency Pod: Kevin Patullo Fired As Eagles Offensive Coordinator

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

After an underwhelming season for the offense, Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie decided to fire offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo Tuesday afternoon. EJ Smith and Bo Wulf react to the news. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the PHLY Eagles podcast, an emergency podcast live from the X-Finity studio and presented by X-Finity. The Eagles have made a decision at Offensive Coordinator, and it will no longer be Kevin Petulow. Nick Siriani releasing a statement himself today, which I think is important, that it's coming from Siriani. And he says, I have decided to make a change at Offensive Coordinator. I met with Kevin today to discuss the difficult decision, as he is a great coach who has my utmost respect. He has been integral to the team's success over the last five years, not only to the on-field product, but behind the scenes as a valued leader for our players and organization.

I have no doubt he will continue to have a successful coaching career. Ultimately, when we fall short of our goals, that responsibility lies on my shoulders, E.J. Smith. I'm Bo Wolf, by the way, Fran Duffie's going to join us. E.J., what do you make of what we sort of felt was a fait accompli at this point? Yeah, I don't think it was surprising that this came today. I think that it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. The term firing may not be the most accurate. I think there's a chance, as Mike Garifolo reported it from the NFL network,

and I can confirm that there's a chance that he may be back on staff. As things unfold, there's conversations that will be had there. So a chance, not that he will definitely. Yeah, it does not seem like a definitive thing at this moment, but I do think that, again, the word firing is the initial reaction, but not necessarily going to be accurate in the long term here. Yeah, I mean, listen, there is, we talked about this on yesterday's show. There is like the press tailor of it all where you can say Kevin Matula was a very important part of the coaching staff and helped this team win a Super Bowl and get to another Super Bowl.

Just like Press Taylor, you know, was the guy who delivered the Philly Special. That's part of his legacy. And also when the team performs as it did on offense this year, as it did, given all the talent they have, you know, as Sequin Barkley said yesterday, the blame is going to fall somewhere. And we have the stats from where this Eagles offense ranked this season in EPA per drive and success rate. And over the past 20 years of Eagles football, it's the third worst offense they've ever had. And the last two, the only two ones that are ahead of it, the head coach got fired both times. And they're not going to fire Nick Siriani a year after he won the Super Bowl. So this is where this goes.

I think nobody is majorly surprised. Yeah, I think that it's also important to note what you just said there that this decision foreshadows that Nick Siriani is not in jeopardy. I didn't think it was a high likelihood to begin with, but I do think Nick's, Nick being the one to deliver the statement, and the fact that it happened this quickly showed that this isn't a situation like Doug Peterson

in a few years ago where it was, you know, sort of lingering whether or not there would be staffing changes and Doug sort of took the fall there at the end. And the context being for everybody and who doesn't know, like Nick and Kevin are, they're very tight. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, they're very close. So I think the way that this season unfolded showed you how difficult

a decision this was going to be for Nick Siriani. You know, the fact that he did try to make it work, he became more involved with the offensive meeting room and offensive meetings in the latter half of the season as a result of trying to fix it with Kevin Petullo. And I think there was probably an element there where Nick Siriani knew that this was his choice for offensive coordinator and was trying to make it work because of that. But I think there's also an element where they are close. And I think it was

obviously, again, it shows how difficult a choice it was going to be for him, but ultimately one that I think was unavoidable at the end of the day. All right. Let's bring in Fran Duffy here, who joins us on this emergency pod on PHLY, presented by X-Finity. We will be quick here because the Flyers guys are coming in for a show at 4 o'clock. But Fran, I think let's sort of get to it here. What kind of offensive coordinator would you like to see the Eagles higher? You know, I'm not like partial to one thing or the other.

I think the most important thing for me is someone that has. as a concrete identity. Like this is, this is what I do. This is where I've been and how I've come across. There are a lot of ways to play successful football. Run game, past game, a lot of ways do it. But just having like the conviction to say, this is what I do. This is what I've been great at throughout the course of my career.

And there are lots of things we can tweak here and there. But I would just like to see somebody that has that conviction and is willing to bring that style here to Philadelphia. So we have some, we have some news for us, actually. We can, we can lengthen this out a little bit. We're working with some machinations behind the scenes to move some stuff around, so we don't have to be quite so quick and to the point. But we will still do that anyway, Fran.

EJ., what do you make of the possibility of Petulho's staying on the staff? You know, it's an interesting one. Obviously, he has been a part of the staff, and I think that maybe there's an effort to bridge some continuity there. But it is strange. It's strange to see someone removed as a play caller and remain on staff in that fashion. And now, again, he's been the past game coordinator for each of the last four seasons. So, you know, it is.

I feel like it's strange. I feel like that's too weird of a situation. I feel like, I think it's coming from a good place of trying to protect him and, you know, gives him a landing place if a job that suits him doesn't become available among the nine other openings there are. But I don't know, man. I feel like, I feel like that would be so awkward. What do you think, Fran? Yeah, I think that, you know, we've seen it over the years, like every, every once in a while, something like this comes across and sometimes it happens at the college level.

It happens at the NFL level. It is a little bit of an awkward dynamic. My guess is that the reason why they're leaving the door open right now is there's a lot of seats unaccounted for around the NFL when it comes to the hiring cycle. And it's not without, it's not like completely outside. the realm of possibility that there could be an opening that could interest Kevin Petullo and obviously not a head coach but in terms of offensive coordinator I'm not ruling that out so I think that's something that certainly you know could come to pass as well and we should say

the Eagles own websites as part ways so yeah I think that yeah I don't know yeah I think there's a it's probably a means to giving him a soft landing if it doesn't if he doesn't have opportunities elsewhere Like the Sean McDermott situation back from 2010 where they gave him the soft landing with the Panthers as the defense coordinator. Fran, what will be your lasting memory of this season's offense? I think you sort of got it all off your chest yesterday on the show. So I don't know if we need to go there necessarily,

but you know, they underperformed. Yeah, it was a disappointing season in a lot of ways. And honestly, like I missed opportunity for this team, this roster that this offense underperformed the way that it did. And as we talked about yesterday, in depth, I don't think that this was solely a Kevin Petullo issue. So I don't think that this move alone is like, up, all right, problem solved. Hoist the Lombardi in 2026. I do think that there is more work to be done in a lot of different areas. And certainly, you know, this is a step towards that. But I don't think it's the only step required. On the potential replacement front,

not to get into specific names, but the thing that we that EJ and I talked about on the show today that I can't stop thinking about is Jalen's emphasis on having a home base on offense. And, you know, it's his way of saying identity, but what he really means is an offensive structure that is going to outlast whatever turnover comes with success. And as you think about that, from the Eagles perspective,

in trying to fill this job, it needs to be more than just an offensive coordinator. It probably means bringing in several new people so that there is something of a succession line in place. Do you agree with that? And I'm not calling for people's jobs, but it feels like that's the only way to make that happen. Yeah, you would think so.

And I think that that is something that you would watch for, you know, you see that at like key positions on the offensive staff. You know, we saw it when, you know, when, when Kellyn comes in, He brings in Nussmeier. Yeah, he brings in Nussmeier. You see that, you know, and typically you're seeing it at quarterback coach. You would see it at like past game coordinator title. You would see it at offensive line coach.

You know, maybe you get into like wide receiver coach. But typically it's like, you know, some of those pivotal positions that, you know, carry a little bit of heft, carry a little bit of weight at those high leverage spots. That's where you could see potentially some turnover. And I don't know what the contract status is for a number of these assistants. You know, but that certainly is something. that is on the table when you make a move like this. It's going to be interesting, too, because of how many openings there are across the league,

you're not going to necessarily be able to, like, hold these guys back. Like, they're probably going to have to make this decision quickly on some of these position coaches. And I do think that, you know, the Eagles have proven that they have some proven position coaches. You know, you think about Jamal Singleton in particular. I think he's somebody who, you know, players speak highly of, someone who has gotten the met, like, I mean, he was a part of a historic rushing season last year. but again he might be part of like the collateral here so I think it's going to be interesting

to keep an eye on some of these position coaches over the coming days. Very interesting here on this emergency podcast presented by Xfinity. Fran, do you want to go through some names and just give a quick, you know, a quick reaction to the possible guys who are out there because that is part of this decision

is that it happens to be a year when there might be more people available at this position than normal. Yeah, I was going to say, throw some names out, man. and we'll chop it up a little bit here. Mike McDaniel. I would be very interested in Mike McDaniel.

I think when you look at what he's been able to do from a run game standpoint, it's a structured pass game. Now, what they did in Miami, like I don't think it's just like one for one in terms of, oh, just take Jalen Hertz and just plop it into that past game. But I think that when you look at what they did from a run game standpoint and then create explosives off of that with the speed they had at wide receiver, yeah, I would definitely be interested.

And again, I said it on a recent show, they talked with McDaniel when he was at San Francisco and tried to pry him away to be an offensive coordinator and that's when he got promoted at in San Fran. So that would be certainly a name to watch. Todd Munkin. I would be interested in Munkin. I mean, I think it's certainly a conversation you're going to have.

I guess we'll see if he's going to end up going with John Harbar or not with wherever he lands. But I think when you're looking at Munkin, a lot of the downfield vertical concepts, like that might be, if that's an area where, hey, you know what, Jalen hurts, the deep ball, that's something that he does really, well, let's go to Monkin where he's been super aggressive with a lot of the things that he's done from a play calling standpoint, even just going back to like his days in Tampa Bay when he had

James Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick. So I would say that that would probably be the allure there with Monkin. I know that this guy's going to get head coaching buzz, but Kevin Stefansky. Yeah, if you want to talk about getting into like the under center, like focus on the run game, play action world, in terms of the names available, I think you're looking at McDaniel and you're looking at Stefanski. They go about it a little bit differently with Stefansky. It is more of like your traditional, you know, downhill. They're going to get into like outside zone, inside zone

stuff. But when I think of what he did in Cleveland, a lot of that was heavy personnel, 12 personnel, you know, 12, two tight ends, three tight ends, and we're going to go at you in the run game with McDaniel. It's much more of like 11 and 12 personnel with like hybrid bodies at tight end.

And it's a lot of like horizontal like stretch action and really kind of emphasize the speed. And so two guys that go about it and you know, it's the similar, and that's what I know what I mean. Like the identity is like, hey, this is the idea. We want to lean into run game and play action, but you go about it

in different ways, right? And so I think that's Stefansky, you're probably looking at it more from that mold. Cliff Kingsbury. You know, Kingsbury, I think you start getting into the more designed quarterback run game, ball out of the quarterback's hands fast. We know what this offense has looked like.

You know, the proof is there in the last couple of years in Washington. before that in Arizona. It's a little bit static, but it's the ball out quickly. They've had production. Now there will be questions that come with like, all right, well, teams,

defenses have had a beat on it in the second half of seasons very often, and there will be questions with that. But he has put forth some productive offenses in the NFL. I want to ask about one that's probably not going to be unanimous, but I think it'll be a segue into a larger conversation we should have here. Okay, well, then let me do one before that then. because this is my last one, because you know how I feel about this person, Fran, but I will ask you.

Mike Kafka. You know, enough said. Yeah, I think that it, that one's tough just because he was in Kansas City. And then with the Giants, like, there was always like a question of it, is this Daibol? Is this Kafka? Yeah. That, we should talk about, we should mention Daibol, actually. That's who my guy was.

Oh, okay. So, Daibol, to me, is a part of the broad. broader conversation about this is going to be Jalen Hertz's fifth offensive coordinator in the last six years. And that is something that we know well that he cares about. So there is at least a familiarity with Brian Dayball with Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani, which I think is why I bring him to the table here, not necessarily because of just the evaluation of him as an offensive mind. But again, if they try to prioritize continuity in the cohabitation matrix, how would you feel about it in that window? Yeah, I think that, look, he has a proof.

proven track record as an offensive coordinator and a play designer in the NFL. I think he did great work with that one Daniel Jones year in New York. But to me, it's more about what did he do with Josh Allen and Buffalo. They were able to orchestrate some good offenses before, like that run game really took hold in Buffalo. That was like pre pre that was post dable. I think that what he was able to do in terms of like spread to run, spread things out, let Josh Allen cook in terms of, you know, being a runner, you know, leaning into his legs a little bit. That's something that he has had a history of. We saw that with Jackson Dart this year, maybe to his detriment. But I think that that's kind of like a blend of what I talked about with Kingsbury and then also some of the

Todd Monkin, like aggressive downfield stuff as well. I think that Brian Daibble is the most likely answer if the Eagles are doing the same thing they've done in the past, if that makes I think it is the we are bringing in someone proven who is who has Peter principled to higher than this level this is the level that we know that they deserve to be at they have done it

before we're bringing in you know you can I wouldn't necessarily call Brian Daibble an adult in the room but we are bringing in somebody who has the reps here this would be the this would be the Kellyn Moore version of it this would be the Vic Fangio version of it it's it's obviously

not the same pedigree but I think if I had to put turkeys on one specific person, this might be the guy who I would choose. And I'm going to be honest, I think of the names, maybe you probably put Monkin in there as well, the least likely if things go well to get hired as a head coach again? Like, do you think, like, he might have the most staying power

in terms of like, oh, it wouldn't be one and done if they were to go back to the Super Bowl in 2026. Kingsbury, maybe. That's interesting. Yeah, I think that's a fair point. And also, we should say, is good friends with Nick Siriani and has worked with Jill Ernst, as you said. So there is a reason to believe in that.

And then, you know, you could go the other way and you're thinking like you're G.J. Kinney types. You're really up-and-comer. You pick some guy on the staff of the Rams or the Niners and you try to do that. But that is the thing where if that guy is successful, he's probably gone in a year. Getting poached right away. Okay. We will get into further specifics of other potential options out there later this week. Make sure you join us on the 2 o'clock show tomorrow.

We're live every weekday at 2 o'clock. hit the like button and all that good stuff. Any final thoughts from you, Fran, before we let you go. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think it's an important step. And I know there's a lot of Eagles fans. A lot of our viewers are very excited by this, but I don't think their work is done, both on between the lines and in the booth.

And I will say, as you mentioned earlier, E.J., I think the most interesting part of this, given the fact that we sort of expected this to be where this landed, is that it came so quickly. and it came from the desk of Nick Siriani. And it tells you that there was, at least at some point, they came to a consensus in the conversations

with Nick and Howie and Jeffrey that this was the decision that they needed to do and Nick is moving forward in putting this staff together, probably with the help of Howie in particular. Yeah, I think that's right. And that framing, I think was smart from the Eagle standpoint and from Nick's standpoint.

All right. Thank you, Fran Duffy. Make sure that everybody checks out all of friends work on all pH. H.L.Y.com become a diehard. You can read his scatter reports on like every player in the draft already. He's, he's unbelievable. He's getting ready for the senior bowl next week. Thank you, Fran. We'll talk to you on Thursday. Sounds good, guys. All right. E.J., any final thoughts from you? I know you're texting people. You're getting reactions. No, that's good. Do you have any, have any, any juice here, any background that you can share with us? No, not much more than what I

share at the top of the show. I apologize for that. But no, I think. It's all happening. It's happening right now. I think that, well, I think the assistant coach thing is really what I have my eye on. And I want to say that we didn't mention Stoutland there. I think he will be fine. I think he will be safe. But outside of that, I just think that they're going to have to rebuild this offensive staff. And, you know, in that vein, it's another voice for Jalen Hertz in the quarterback room, obviously another voice as a play caller as well.

And I think that the big picture thing that, you know, comes front of mind for me is how much sway is Jalen Hertz going to have in this decision? Who is he potentially going to push for and how much influence is he going to have for that? Because I do think that his voice holds a significant weight in the organization at this point. And I think with how much he has talked about the challenges that he's faced with the constant turnover, I think that it is going to be really interesting to see who they choose and if it feels like Jalen Hertz had a big say in that decision. Yeah, and hopefully we will hear from Nick Siriani and Howie Roseman at some point this week. they're supposed to do an end-of-season press conference.

It's supposed to be within the first week. So hopefully that happens. And I think that's an interesting question to ask them is how much is Jalen involved in this process? Yeah, but I also think, given the way that the successes of offensive coordinator hires have gone for them and also the failures, I think it's important that it probably has to be an organizational decision.

I don't think that this is Nick unilaterally. I don't think that this is Jalen. Obviously, it wouldn't be Jalen unilaterally, but even significantly weighted toward Jalen. I think that when the Eagles have gotten this higher right, it usually has been with multiple people's consideration as part of the decision. All right.

So there you have it. The Eagles making a move at offensive coordinator, parting ways with Kevin Petulow, but not necessarily sending him out entirely. We'll see what happens. And obviously, we will have you covered with all the news here on PHLY. Make sure that you like the video and subscribe, all that good stuff.

Tune on over to the Flyers guys because they're live right now. Thanks to them for moving around to let us do this podcast. Thank you, Lindsay, for making it happen quickly. We will talk to you tomorrow at 2 o'clock. And as always, we love you. Like the mayor.