Former Seahawks assistant Sean Desai fired by Eagles

Desai’s first year as Eagles defensive coordinator was also his last.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ massive late-season collapse had some wondering if head coach Nick Sirianni would be fired just one year after taking the Eagles to the Super Bowl. It looks as if Sirianni is safe, but his assistants are not.

As expected, former Seattle Seahawks assistant coach Sean Desai, who was essentially demoted midway through his first season as Eagles defensive coordinator, has been let go. Matt Patricia, who replaced Desai as the play-caller starting with the Eagles’ 20-17 loss to the Seaahawks, is also out of contract and won’t return to the team.

The Eagles defense went from one of the league’s best to one of the worst under Desai, and then Patricia took over to finish the job and make sure Philadelphia was atrocious until the bitter end. Philadelphia and Seattle were right next to each other in EPA/play, which would’ve been cool for the Seahawks in 2022, but this year that means they’re 30th to Philly’s 29th.

Desai was the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator in 2021 before Matt Nagy and his staff were let go, paving the way for Pete Carroll to bring Desai over to Seattle’s staff as associate head coach and defensive assistant. When the Eagles lost Jonathan Gannon to the Arizona Cardinals, Desai was on their radar to be their next DC, and he left Seattle to take a job with the reigning NFC champions.

Pete Carroll is not the Seahawks head coach anymore, so I doubt that a return to Seattle is on the cards for Desai. Given the interest in Desai dating back to his days with the Bears, I suspect it won’t be too long before he finds another job… maybe in the college ranks?