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Tim McManus, ESPN Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — The hiring of Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator figures to be the most consequential move coach Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles make this offseason.
During his end-of-season news conference with general manager Howie Roseman, Sirianni acknowledged the offense got “a little bit stale” by season’s end, and that the ideas brought in by the new offensive coordinator — the Eagles tabbed Moore for the job on Saturday, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter — would be in the name of freshening things up.
Beyond that, though, Sirianni said Moore would be “in charge of the offense” — language he had never used in the past unless speaking about himself.
Moore, then, is expected to have a level of power that predecessors Shane Steichen and Brian Johnson did not, operating in a new structure where Sirianni appears to be transitioning into more of a CEO-type role.
Moore will be charged with invigorating an attack that felt predictable and out of sync for parts of 2023. He will need to form a connection with quarterback Jalen Hurts, who dealt with frustration last season when his desired direction for the offense never materialized, a source said, and who just saw a longtime family friend in Johnson get fired from the same post. And he will be tasked with fusing his vision for the offense with successful staples from Sirianni’s scheme while making sure Hurts’ skill set is fully maximized.
That’s a lot to take on, especially on the heels of a 1-6 collapse that led to speculation about Sirianni’s job security and eventually the ousting of Sirianni’s top lieutenants on both sides of the ball.
But it’s not hard to understand why the Eagles see Moore as a good fit.
Moore, 35, played quarterback for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys before becoming the quarterbacks coach in Dallas in 2018. He was quickly promoted to offensive coordinator and oversaw a group that finished first in yards per game twice and ranked third overall in EPA during his stint there from 2019 to 2022.
He was interviewed for the Eagles head-coaching job in 2021 before the front office tabbed Sirianni.
Upon joining the Los Angeles Chargers as offensive coordinator this past season, Moore laid out his intended approach, which can be applied to his new role as well.
“We’re going to build a 2023 L.A. Chargers offense,” he said. “Will you be able to see the Air Coryell/Jason Garrett side? Absolutely. Will you see the West Coast and Mike McCarthy? Absolutely. We’ll keep things in place here that Justin [Herbert] feels really, really good about and we’ll explore.”
One thing we’re sure to see is more pre-snap motion under Moore. The Chargers finished eighth in pre-snap motion (25.9%) last season while the Eagles ranked dead last at 10.9%. And Hurts will likely operate under center more, as the Chargers used that look 39% of the time (seventh most) compared to 7.1% for Philadelphia, also last.
Best-case scenario, Moore’s scheme will be innovative enough to keep defenses off-balance and malleable enough to allow for elements of the offense that have been in place for three years now under Sirianni.
“Whoever the new coordinator is, there’s going to be things that they bring that are going to be fresh ideas for us to help our players grow and help our players play at the top level, and there have been some things that we’ve done really well on offense, too, in the past that you’ll mesh in some of that together,” Sirianni said.
“So I’m excited about that, the new ideas meshing with some of the old ideas. We’ll see how that continues to go as we go through our off-season process and where we land with that.”
The Chargers’ offense, which was without Herbert for four games due to injury, finished 20th in EPA (-23.04) and 21st in points scored (346) in 2023. The Cowboys, meanwhile, ranked second in EPA (124.27) and first in points (509) with McCarthy taking over the playcalling duties from Moore.
There’s no guarantee of a quick fix. But the Eagles still have one of the most talented offensive rosters in football, led by receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, a top-tier offensive line and a quarterback in Hurts who nearly won the MVP a season ago and went blow for blow with Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVII.
If Moore, Sirianni and Hurts can get aligned, it’s not too difficult to envision the offense rebounding next season.
If they can’t, there could be another offseason of change in Philadelphia.