Jeff Lurie talks Nick Sirianni contract situation as Super Bowl approaches

https://sports.yahoo.com/jeff-lurie-talks-nick-sirianni-102459052.html

Jeff Lurie talks Nick Sirianni contract situation as Super Bowl approaches originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

It’s incredible how much things have changed in the last year.

When the Eagles’ 2023 season sputtered to an end, Jeff Lurie waited nine days before acknowledging that Nick Sirianni would return as head coach.

On Monday night, his tone was a little bit different.

While Lurie wouldn’t specifically address Sirianni’s contract situation, he did acknowledge that Sirianni isn’t going anywhere after leading the Eagles to their second Super Bowl in three years.

Sirianni’s contract is up after the 2025 season, and Lurie would never allow him to go into the final year of his deal without an extension – Lurie never has with a coach he’s going to keep – so while it may seem obvious it’s also notable that Lurie is confident he and Sirianni will be able to get something worked out soon.

“Nick has done a phenomenal job, just as we expected when we hired him,” Lurie said at Super Bowl Opening Night Monday at the Superdome. “He’s an incredible leader, attention to detail, love of football, incredibly passionate. He’s able to connect with everyone in the organization, the players, his coaches. Just an outstanding job.

“What can I say? What we look for in a coach may not be the same as other franchises. I’ve never selected a coach, really, that’s been interviewed by other franchises, starting with Andy Reid. So what we look for is something that sometimes I think is less valued, sort of in the public sphere or in the NFL sphere. And Nick and his coaching staff have done just an amazing and wonderful job.

“And his future is going to be great. We never talk about contracts or whatever publicly in 30 years so I’m not going to start now. But he’s great.”

Sirianni is 48-20 in four years as Eagles head coach, and his .706 winning percentage is 5th-highest ever, behind Guy Chamberlin, who coached in the 1920s, and 1960s-1970s legends Vince Lombardi and George Allen.

He’s the only coach to lead the Eagles to more than one Super Bowl and only the third coach in NFL history to reach two Super Bowls in his first three years. The others are Joe Gibbs and Mike Tomlin.

The Eagles face the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX Sunday at the Superdome.

“Nick really personifies so much of what we believe in,” Lurie said. “So stability’s great, but stability’s great when you’re having excellent people have that stability.”

It’s not like Sirianni hasn’t faced his share of challenges. But he’s always had an answer.

The Eagles were 2-5 in 2021 before his flowers underground speech and a 7-2 run to the playoffs. And of course there was last year’s collapse, six losses in their last seven games after a 10-1 start. And the 2-2 start this year followed by an unhinged Sirianni barking at Eagles fans after a win over the Browns.

“One of the things I really admire about Nick is he’s incredibly passionate,” Lurie said. “A lot of the time, sometimes that passion spills over. He is his own (biggest) critic and he’s very self-aware. He’s very aware of when he wishes he didn’t do certain things sometimes.

“He’s growing. He grows all the time. I’ve seen that with every coach we’ve ever had. You know, Nick is just a very prime example of that. A very prime example. As connected as he gets as a human being and as genuine, he’s also connected to himself and he goes, ‘What was I thinking?’ or something like that. It’s a great quality.

“We all know people that can’t be self-deprecating, they take themselves too seriously. Those are not the people that are the best leaders. I always find people that are self-deprecating have an ingredient of leadership that’s special.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/jeff-lurie-talks-nick-sirianni-102459052.html