Gannon hires Eagles LB coach as Cardinals defensive coordinator originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Nick Sirianni’s coaching staff lost one of their esteemed young defensive assistants on Saturday when new Arizona Cards head coach Jonathan Gannon hired Eagles linebacker coach Nick Rallis as his defensive coordinator.
The news was first reported Saturday night by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who tweeted that “several teams tried to bait” Rallis on Saturday before he decided to accept Gannon’s offer to join his Cards team.
Rallis, 29, who played college football six years ago, becomes the youngest coordinator in the NFL.
The Karts have not had a top 10 defense since 2015. They finished 31st in scoring last year and 21st in yards allowed. According to multiple reports, their outgoing defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is expected to be interviewed for the Eagle’s defensive coordinator position.
Rallis played football in Minnesota and began a coaching career straight out of college, starting as quality control coach at Wake Forest under Dave Clawson before joining Mike Zimmer’s team in 2018 as defensive quality control coach, where he first worked with Gannon.
After two years of quality control in 2020, head coach Mike Zimmer promoted Rallis to assistant linebacker coach.
When Nick Sirianni hired Gannon as his original defensive coordinator in 2021, Gannon brought in Rallis. Although they did not overlap with the Vikings, both trained under Mike Zimmer in Minnesota.
So Sirianni, who kept his coaching staff intact from 2021 to 2022, has now lost both coordinators and a respected defensive assistant from the Super Bowl team.
The Eagles didn’t have an assistant linebacker coach this year. Jeremiah Washburn coached overhanging players – wingers with passes and defenders.
One possible replacement for Rallis is Tyler Scudder, who worked as a defensive assistant last year after working as an assistant coach in 2021. Scudder, a Gettysburg native, coached linebackers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2010 to 2012 and at Duquesne from 2014 to 2017.
He worked at Iowa State from 2018 to 2020 as senior defensive quality control coach under Matt Campbell, Sirianni’s college teammate at Mount Union. The quarterback for these Iowa teams was Brock Purdy.
After the departure of Gannon and Rallis, second coach Dennard Wilson, defensive line coach Tracy Roker and Washburn remained the top defensive assistants. Others are DB assistant coach DJ McDonald, defense quality control Joe Kasper and Scudder.
The only offensive coach Sirianni has lost is offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, who is now head coach of the Colts.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
