Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is motivated by the fact he wasn’t retained by Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid following the 2012 season.
“Do you always have this little chip on your shoulder? Sure, yeah, you do,” Sirianni admitted on Monday, as shared by Tim McManus of ESPN. “But that’s who I am as a coach and as a person — I want to make sure I’m working my butt off to get as good as I possibly can. And sure, you hold on to some of those things.”
McManus and NBC Sports’ Peter King both pointed out that Sirianni was serving as Kansas City’s wide receivers coach when that franchise made Reid its head coach after he held that same job with the Eagles from 1999 through the 2012 campaign. While speaking with King, Sirianni insisted he has a “ton of respect for coach Reid” even though Reid let him go roughly a decade ago.
The two coaches will be on opposing sidelines for Super Bowl LVII this Sunday.
“Hey, it worked out pretty well,” Sirianni said about his career while speaking with King. “God always has plans. As mad as you might be — mad or upset or as crushed as you might be — I mean, think about the path it really led me on. No hard feelings there. I appreciated him taking the time to spend time with me … I can’t tell you how many times [Eagles general manager] Howie Roseman talks about ‘Coach Reid would’ve done this.’ Or when I ask, sometimes, Hey what do you think coach Reid would do in this scenario? It tells you a lot about coach Reid.”
David Culley initially replaced Sirianni on Reid’s staff in Kansas City. Sirianni ultimately became a quality control coach with the then-San Diego Chargers in 2013 and later built a reputation as an offensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts from 2018 up until the Eagles hired him as head coach in January 2021.
Reid guided the Chiefs to a Super Bowl LIV win over the San Francisco 49ers in February 2020. Sirianni will look to follow in Reid’s footsteps and help the Eagles win their second title since February 2018.
