Report: Eagles have made an effort to keep Jonathan Gannon as DC

The Philadelphia Eagles have made an effort to keep Jonathan Gannon in the mix despite the defensive coordinator being a finalist for the Arizona Cardinals’ head coaching job, per The MMQB’s Albert Breer.

Breer adds that while Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has a few in-house options to replace offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, who accepted the Indianapolis Colts’ job on Tuesday, the same can’t be said for the other side of the football.

Having to replace Gannon would be more difficult, with the timing of his candidacy in Arizona an issue. Two guys who I think would’ve been high on the Eagles’ DC list, Vic Fangio and Jerod Mayo, have already agreed to deals elsewhere.

I have heard, for what it’s worth, that the Eagles have made an effort to keep Gannon in the fold, with the Arizona interest having been rumored for a while.

Gannon was a surprise addition to the Cardinals’ head-coaching search after the candidates appeared down to Cincinnati Bengals DC Lou Anarumo and New York Giants OC Mike Kafka. After reportedly requesting an interview with Gannon ahead of Super Bowl LVII, Arizona sat down with the OC on Monday.

The Cardinals and Gannon are expected to speak again on Tuesday following reports a day prior that Arizona was focused in on either Gannon or Anarumo for their next head coach.

And according to Breer, Gannon had been a name new Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort was interested in well before the reported interview request.

After compiling a list of 10 or so head-coaching candidates, the GM was left impressed by three: Gannon, Bengals OC Brian Callahan and Detroit Lions DC Aaron Glenn.

Unfortunately for Ossenfort and the Cardinals, talking to either Gannon or Callahan had to wait thanks to the timing of the GM’s hiring.

By the time Ossenfort got the Arizona job, the window to do first interviews with coaches in the playoffs was shut. So of his list of three, Glenn was the only one he could interview. After the AFC title game, the Cardinals got to Callahan. And, now, finally, they’ll get to Gannon.

The Cardinals are looking to replace former head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who was fired on Jan. 9.

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