Jalen Hurts will be receiving play calls from his former position coach in 2023.
Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson is being promoted to the offensive coordinator role, the team announced Tuesday.
On the other side of the ball, Philadelphia also announced the hire of Sean Desai as defensive coordinator.
In addition to their coordinator hires, the Eagles named former Colts OC Marcus Brady as a senior offensive assistant, Alex Tanney as new QB coach, and T.J. Paganetti as the team’s run game specialist/assistant tight ends coach.
The OC job in Philadelphia became vacant once Shane Steichen accepted the head coaching position in Indianapolis earlier this month. Steichen held the title for two seasons and had been Nick Sirianni’s primary play-caller upon the head coach’s arrival in 2021.
Johnson earned his first coaching job in the NFL once Sirianni landed in Philly. The 36-year-old spent a decade coaching in the college ranks before then, holding OC and QB coach titles at Florida (2020) and Houston (2017).
As a former college QB at Utah, Johnson has been instrumental in the development of Hurts the past two seasons.
Hurts emerged as an MVP-caliber quarterback in 2022, throwing for 3,701 passing yards and 22 touchdowns at a 66.5% completion rate while adding 760 rushing yards and 13 more scores. The third-year QB maintained one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL in 2022 and showed tremendous poise and growth following his first season as a starter in 2021.
The Hurts-led Eagles (14-3) garnered the league’s best record before making an appearance in Super Bowl LVII. Despite losing to the Chiefs, Hurts produced once of the best individual Super Bowl performances ever by scoring four touchdowns (three rushing, one passing).
Johnson will now take the keys of an offense that returns most of its talent in 2023, and one of the coaches behind the scenes of the Eagles’ success will now be front and center.
Desai replaces Jonathan Gannon, who took the head-coaching job in Arizona after Philly’s Super Bowl loss. The 39-year-old Desai spent the 2022 season as Pete Carroll’s associate head coach and defensive assistant in Seattle. Desai spent the bulk of his NFL career with the Bears, rising from defensive quality control coach to defensive coordinator in nine years and working under three head coaches — Marc Trestman, John Fox and Matt Nagy.
Desai was a popular interview for vacant DC roles this hiring cycle, speaking with the Browns, Broncos, Dolphins and Vikings before he was swooped up by the Eagles.
The new DC in Philly will be tasked with maintaining the level of play on the Eagles’ elite defense, which ranked second in yards allowed and eighth in points allowed, and racked up 70 sacks during the 2022 season en route to Super Bowl LVII.