Jonathan Gannon‘s Eagles exit brought a tampering penalty against the Cardinals, who made impermissible contact with their new head coach during the offseason. New Arizona GM Monti Ossenfort reached out to Gannon shortly after the NFC championship game, after the two-year Eagles DC expressed a desire to stay in Philadelphia. Gannon did not tell the Eagles about Ossenfort’s pre-Super Bowl call or his intention to interview with the Cardinals, according to ESPN.com’s Tim McManus. This affected Philly’s timing regarding Vic Fangio, who was perhaps this offseason’s most coveted coordinator.
A consultant with the Eagles last season, Fangio was well-liked and became the team’s choice to succeed Gannon as DC. Fangio all but confirmed the timing involving Gannon led him out of town. Before Super Bowl LVII, the Eagles had expected to retain Gannon, McManus adds. When Ossenfort was in Tennessee, he put Gannon’s name on a short list of possible HCs — in the event he landed a GM job. A Jan. 29 report indicated Fangio would accept the Dolphins’ DC offer; he was officially hired Feb. 2. The Cardinals’ Gannon interview request did not emerge until Feb. 12. By that point, the Eagles were aiming to retain Gannon after Fangio had bolted. With the Eagles having demoted their new DC — Sean Desai — and given Matt Patricia play-calling duties, Gannon’s Philly return this week will be interesting.
Here is the latest from the NFC:
- Listing Jonathan Allen as a player he expects to be traded during the 2024 offseason, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes the Commanders defensive tackle is not eager to go through another rebuild. Allen made his views on that matter fairly well known recently, after the team traded Montez Sweat and Chase Young. A losing streak commenced soon after, and Ron Rivera and Martin Mayhew are expected to be fired. Teams asked about Allen at the deadline, and while the Commanders resisted, new owner Josh Harris‘ involvement in the Sweat and Young deals showed an openness to stockpiling draft capital. Allen’s four-year, $72MM extension runs through 2025. It would cost Washington $18MM in dead money to trade Allen before June 1, so it would stand to take a nice offer to pry the seventh-year veteran from D.C.
- The Giants have phased Parris Campbell out of their receiver rotation, going as far as to make him a healthy scratch in each of the past three games. Campbell signed a one-year, $4.7MM deal in free agency, with The…