Fangio being hired as new DC

[taz]

The Dolphins and Vic Fangio have parted ways so Nic can be closer to his family in PA. He will be taking over as the Eagles next DC. I absolutely HATE this move. Don't care he is the creator of this defense. His scheme is no longer a viable scheme in the NFL. This is insane. You know because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results. Bend and Break defenses are not viable. You have to challenge receivers no play 10 yards off. The amount of communication this defense requires is insane. You get one injury and the replacement can't get up to speed quick enough because of it. Next thing you know you have two or three blown coverages that cost you ball games. Just look at Fangios Dolphins team they were middle of the pack defensively this year but got worse as the year went on when they started to get injuries. Just like the Eagles team did. Meanwhile teams like the 49ers lose guys to injuries and plug others in there and keep on going why. Because of the scheme.

[andrewaters]

Taz... I understand but you are against the grain with this comment. Most of the pundits like this move. Fangio had a pretty good defense this year in Miami. I'd say our personnel is similar once we add a young LB from the draft especially. Which I think we will do.

[taz]

Taz... I understand but you are against the grain with this comment. Most of the pundits like this move. Fangio had a pretty good defense this year in Miami. I'd say our personnel is similar once we add a young LB from the draft especially. Which I think we will do.

Top 5 teams in terms of TDs given up. Commanders 59, Cardinals 54, Eagles 51, Panthers 49, Phins and Giants tied for 48. 3 of those 6 teams run the Fangio defense including Fangio himself. Name of the game is keeping scores off the board. All except the Cards have fired there DC BTW.

This is a terrible hire. He was fired by the way from the Dolphins.

[ThoughtProcess]

As far as I have seen, this is not officially the case but is merely the expected outcome after Fangio and the Dolphins agreed to "mutually part ways" for him to be nearer to his family in PA.

That said, I think this is highly possible and highly probable.

[dawkins20]

Not a fan of the Fangio bend don’t break defense. I prefer aggressiveness and physicality.

only positive would be that he likely would be happy as a DC for years. His head coaching opp came and went.

[andrewaters]

We are going to get to see it sounds like. I like the hire.

But Taz you have a good football mind so I get what you are saying.

if we don’t dramatically improve the middle of this defense Buddy Ryan couldn’t fix this defense.

[Pliny]

Not a fan of the Fangio bend don’t break defense. I prefer aggressiveness and physicality.

only positive would be that he likely would be happy as a DC for years. His head coaching opp came and went.

Same for me. I am not at all happy about this move. Fangio has been offering advice to Nick for the last 2 years. It has not helped.

Fangio doesn't blitz enough. The Dolphins defense actually got worse in 2023 than it was the years before his arrival. Dolphin fans were not happy with him last season.

I don't understand why Nick is so tied to the bend, not break scheme. It's like watching the prevent defense, but for the entire game.

[musicman]

if we don’t dramatically improve the middle of this defense Buddy Ryan couldn’t fix this defense.[/QUOTE]

I wish the DC debacle didn't happen. The DC had no chance. Once Dean went down, the green dot bounced around between new guys and even went to an UDFA S for one game. That couldn't have helped much, then the replacements didn't pan out. Slay and Bradberry didn't play well . Maddox, who was playing well in the slot, he goes down for a big chunk of the season., Byaard comes in with the speed and agility of a plow horse. I believe we had 17-18 different DBs this season. Health and communication were the 2 biggest problems for this defense. I feel that we found some potentially good backs. I think we should remove any DB over 28 and roll with the kids. You need fast, agile DBs who can maintain coverage for more than 4 seconds. You have McPherson coming back from injury and the still young second rounder with mad skills, Isaiah Rodgers coming off the gambling suspension.(by the way Howie, brilliant move ).You have 3 picks in the top 64 to fill needs. The state of the back 7 IMO requires a flush and a refill . Throw all the kids in the deep end and let it play out. That gives you the ability to eat some cap money. We saw some good flashes from the young guys. I believe we may need a more grandfatherly type coach to work with so much youth, therefor I think that's where Fangio comes in. We would have a very young and athletic D that will all be close to the same age with the potential of playing together a long time. I could actually appreciate that and would welcome the idea. Let's see how it goes.

[ThoughtProcess]

They're gonna need some LBs . Especially if it's gonna be an official 3-4 defense, LOL


By Cody Benjamin

A year after first eyeing him for the position, the Eagles have finally secured their man, welcoming Vic Fangio to Philadelphia on Thursday to become Nick Sirianni's new defensive coordinator, as ESPN reported. The former Broncos head coach marks the Eagles' first major addition since a late-season collapse, signed to revitalize what became one of the NFL's worst defenses in 2023.

Fangio, 65, is no stranger to Philly. He was born and raised in Dunsmore, Pennsylvania, about two hours from the city. He also worked alongside Sirianni in 2022, when he quietly served as a consultant to Jonathan Gannon's NFC-champion defense. In many ways, then, this pairing was always inevitable; even after becoming the Dolphins' DC last offseason, Fangio hinted he would've had the same job with the Eagles if not for Gannon's delayed departure to become the Cardinals' head coach.

But what, exactly, does Fangio's arrival mean for the Eagles defense? How might his entrance affect the way the team plays, and/or which kinds of players it prioritizes in offseason roster-building?

Just as Fangio's now been tied to the organization for years, his influence on the Eagles' strategy has been apparent for a while. The former Broncos coach is best known for maximizing and/or popularizing a two-high-safety scheme, which essentially prioritizes prevention of the big play: Always have back-end help in place, and keep everything in front of you. It's precisely the kind of defense the Eagles ran under Gannon in 2022, and again, to a different degree, under Sean Desai and Matt Patricia in 2023.

So why would they double-down on an approach that gradually got worse from 2022-2023, leaving them with one of the most porous units in all of football? To start, it's one thing to imitate a Fangio defense, and another to employ Fangio himself. This is a man who's overseen 10 different top-10 defensive finishes at five different stops as a DC or head coach, including with Miami this year. His personnel has varied. His staffs have varied. But his results as head of a defense have been remarkably consistent.

Fangio, remember, spent much of 2022 advising the Eagles, so he's familiar with some of the best talent already on their defensive roster, chiefly pass rushers Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat, who helped the club log a franchise-record 70 sacks that year. This season, while Desai showcased some more creative looks before his polarizing reassignment in December, the Eagles effectively still banked on their front four to do the heavy lifting, and when Reddick and Sweat couldn't replicate their 2022 dominance, everything fell apart. It didn't help that the aging secondary was beset by injuries, enabling opponents to get the ball off quicker.

Now, with Fangio in full control, the Eagles figure to transition to a more blatant 3-4 scheme. Under both Gannon and Desai, the team technically deployed a 4-3 base but with ever-changing pass-rush groupings, often letting Reddick work as a stand-up rusher, the same way he might in a 3-4 design. Veteran defensive linemen like Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox have rotated both inside and outside for years, but if they return under Fangio, they're virtual locks to see more time as 3-4 ends, with someone like Jordan Davis (6-6, 335) bumped into the middle as a gap-plugging nose tackle.

Fans shouldn't expect the blitz rate to change much. Enticing as a pressure-heavy approach might be, it's just not Fangio's calling card. Again, the motto with his defense has traditionally been to contain and control. Make the offense work harder and longer to put points on the board. The X factor here is talent. Making the offense play dink-and-dunk can be a brilliant strategy if you have the personnel to simply win matchups over the long haul, but if, say, you've got a gaping hole at linebacker and you're up against smart pocket passers, you're liable to give opponents full control of the ball and clock, as Gannon's "D" infamously did against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

There is no one position that matters exceedingly more than another in a Fangio defense; this is still a team game, and a defense that contains rather than aggressively strives for big plays requires steady production from front to back. But if we presume that Reddick and Sweat return as the Eagles' top edge rushers, and project 2023 rookie Jalen Carter as a potential difference-maker at 3-4 end, the clear priorities for general manager Howie Roseman this offseason would seem to be linebacker and safety.

Cornerback is another major area of focus, with both Darius Slay and James Bradberry seemingly regressing in both speed and durability, but Fangio's two-high-safety looks tend to work best when that last line of defense is buoyed by well-rounded starters -- guys who can fly around and do all the little things well, be it step up in run defense or close quickly in zone coverage. Think Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson in 2021, when Fangio's Broncos "D" ranked No. 3 in points allowed.

At LB, meanwhile, you can make the case that Fangio's expertise is enough to boost the stock of even midgrade veterans. On the surface, that jibes with the Eagles' general philosophy under Roseman, which is to allocate top dollar to front-four and perimeter players -- defensive tackle, edge rusher, cornerback, etc. -- and take bargain-bin swings in the middle. But when considering that some of Fangio's best years have coincided with all-star runs by elite LBs like Roquan Smith, NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis, it's not a stretch to suggest Roseman and Co. will likely be more invested in that spot this spring.

Because, again, at the end of the day, in a Fangio defense, the point of sitting back rather than sending extra pressure is to let your guys win -- to let your talent disparity force the other side into mistakes. And if you don't have the talent, well, that's when you end up replacing coordinators and schemes and regimes all over again.

There are no shortage of high-profile veterans the Eagles could consider in free agency. The defensive-line crop is deep, from big-money possibilities like Justin Madubuike (Ravens) and Christian Wilkins (Dolphins), who could pair with Carter to give the team an enviable 3-4 DE duo, to rotational stalwarts like Grover Stewart (Colts), Sheldon Rankins (Texans) and DaQuan Jones (Bills). The free agent LB class has a blend of "traits" vets like Devin White (Buccaneers) and Patrick Queen (Ravens) to seasoned short-term captains like Bobby Wagner (Seahawks) and Jordan Hicks (Vikings). And the same goes for safety, where a home run might be Buccaneers star Antoine Winfield Jr., though Jordan Fuller (Rams) or Kyle Dugger (Patriots) could solidify the lineup.

In the end, Fangio's mere presence -- his resume, his no-nonsense approach, his clear vision for what he wants to do -- should represent a noticeable upgrade. It's hard to be any worse than the Eagles were at the tail end of 2023, both in execution, effort and understanding of concept. Now it's a matter of how much the new man in charge can uplift those at his disposal.

[taz]

Another concerning item on Fangio

According to
@OmarKelly
“Fangio's performance was a major topic of discussion in coach Mike McDaniel's exit interviews, and there were a number of the team's top performers who either wanted Fangio to change his ways or be replaced, and flat-out told McDaniel this.”

We already hearing we have locker room issues. Why bring in this guy. I don't get it. I absolutely hate the move. So tired of bend and break.

[dawkins20]

When you play two deep safeties and zone, not many stud cover corners or playmaking safeties are going to like the system or coach.

Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard are getting older and still believe they are press coverage guys.

I dont love the scheme. But if you are going to run it, you better have the right guys. Not sure Miami did.

[Eaglebreath]

I'm also tired of this scheme. We've gone from Buddy Ryan and Jim Johnson, to 2 deep safeties playing 20 yards off the ball on 3rd and 2. Keep it in front, don't let anyone get behind you, rush four. And while the opposing team's QB is staying clean, dinking and dunking the ball down the field, nice and comfortable, their defense is blitzing the absolute shit out of Hurts, and knocking him around and rattling him all game long. Pressure, pressure, pressure, while we just rush four and play the containment scheme the whole game. It's just another reason why the team was so frustrating to watch this year. This isn't change. It's more of the same stuff we've been seeing for the last few years. I don't like it.

[Eagle60]

I think it's about 100 percent agreement that we'd like a more aggressive defensive approach. In a lot of ways I don't even see football being played anymore because it's just past, pass, pass. It's all about the red zone now on both sides of the field Along with winning the turnover battle. If you win those you win the game. Just hire anybody who can keep the other team out of the end zone and I'll be happy.

[kyfred]

Absolutely hate a retread like this here. He may be a good soldier, but the issue this year was the intermediate pass and the middle of the field. So, we hire a guy that doesn't blitz, we could not get to the QB with short passing open, drives were sustained, folks got tired and beat up, etc. Its an over-simplification, but give me an aggressive defense and not w=one that plays to the aggression of an offense. And playing 2 safeties deep against the run is another issue. Kickers with 50+ yard legs are common place and the speed and mobility of today's game does not lend itself to this type of approach.

[ThoughtProcess]