The Eagles have a new offensive coordinator... and new cap flexibility

If you’re looking for a reason to be nervous about next year’s Philadelphia Eagles, their recent coaching staff changes might do the trick.

If you’re looking for a reason to be optimistic about the Birds, we have something for that in today’s send as well.

Also, the Sixers.

In the email today:

• 🦅 Eagles promote Kevin Patullo to offensive coordinator

• 💵 Eagles get better standing still as NFL raises salary cap

• 🏀 Enjoy a compelling Sixers game tonight while you can

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The Eagles promoted passing game coordinator/associate head coach Kevin Patullo to offensive coordinator on Wednesday. Patullo replaces Kellen Moore, who was named the Saints head coach shortly after the Super Bowl. He will have play-calling duties as OC.

Patullo, 43, has a long history with head coach Nick Sirianni. When Sirianni was the offensive coordinator for the Colts, from 2018 through 2020, Patullo served as wide receivers coach and then pass game specialist. In 2021, Sirianni brought Patullo with him to the Birds in the role of passing game coordinator. The club added "associate head coach" to Patullo's title in 2023.

"It’s hard to compare that role to this role because his job is going to demand something completely different of him," Jalen Hurts said when asked last week about Patullo as an offensive coordinator candidate. "And I have a lot of confidence in him and what he’s shown. However, I know, I’ve learned over the years, that’s out of my jurisdiction."

Patullo's first NFL coaching job was with the Chiefs in 2007, as an offensive assistant/quality control coach. He then coached with the Bills (offensive quality control/assistant WRs coach, 2010-2012), Titans (assistant WRs coach, 2014), and Jets (quarterbacks coach, 2015-2016). He spent 2017 with Texas A&M, as a senior offensive analyst, before his time with Sirianni on the Colts.

Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson approves of the hiring.

The NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports that the Eagles plan to hire Parks Frazier to fill Patullo's pass game coordinator role. Frazier, 33, served as an offensive assistant for the Dolphins in 2024 and as passing game coordinator for the Panthers in 2023.

The Eagles have been Super Bowl champions for a week and a half, and already the sports media engines are asking whether they can repeat.

A lot of that speculation came down to how much the Eagles relied on players now headed to free agency. Zack Baun, Milton Williams and Mekhi Becton (to name a few) all had good seasons and, with their new Super Bowl rings, will look to cash in.

Yesterday morning, the Eagles were projected to be about $20 million below the salary cap for 2025.

That’s better than being at or above the line, but based on those player valuations above, it was hard to project the Eagles keeping more than two of those players. For that matter, only holding onto one was in play.

But as the old adage goes, they also serve who only stand and wait.

This is a legitimate WOW moment for Eagles fans generally and Eagles GM Howie Roseman specifically. People throw the phrase “the rich get richer” around a lot. In this instance, though, it’s absolutely applicable to the Eagles.

As many NBA teams have learned, offering great players obscene amounts of money might not work if your team is horrible. So a big bump in the salary cap is probably not going to do as much for, say, the New York Giants as it will for the Eagles.

The Giants are in a full gut and rebuild. Giving them more cap money that no great player wants to take doesn’t really help. You could say this about almost the entire bottom third of the NFL — more cap money won’t solve their entire range of issues.

Ironically, the only reason this added cap money isn’t a stone dead lock to make the Eagles better is that they might be too good for their own good.

It’s a nice problem to have, though. The NFL just gave the Eagles a bonus they may not have needed but will absolutely take.

The NBA All-Star break is over. You will notice that we didn’t cover any of the drawn-out “festivities.” That’s largely because the Sixers had no real involvement, unless you count Jared McCain showing up injured to the Rising Stars game.

At 20-34, the Sixers are right up on the verge of tanking. Although as Noah Levick aptly notes in that piece we just linked to, “they’ve been trying to win and have already lost 34 times.” Ouch.

The Sixers’ opponent tonight coming out of the break is the defending World Champion Boston Celtics. It’s almost like the sports gods didn’t want Philadelphia fans to get too chesty about an Eagles Super Bowl win.

The All-Star break allowed a number of players to heal up, including the Celtics’ Jrue Holiday and some guy named Embiid for the Sixers.

We are all way past the “the Sixers can still turn this thing around” fantasy. There are three realistic outcomes for this season, and all of them are bad.

• Win enough games to sneak into the play-in spots and either get eliminated there or be cannon fodder for the #1 or #2 seed in the East.

• Win not enough games to miss the play-in but too many to hold onto their first round pick.

• Lose so many of the next 28 games that they retain a puncher’s chance to keep their first round pick.

It’s pretty sorry that it’s come down to this. So maybe enjoy Sixers/Celtics tonight with two relatively healthy and talented teams going at it while you can.

After tonight, the remainder of the Sixers’ season projects to be pretty grim.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On February 20, 2000, Temple basketball knocked off No. 1-ranked Cincinnati. The Owls were 19.5-point underdogs coming into the game, and the victory ended a 42-game home win streak for Cincy.

📊 Poll

Results from Tuesday:

🔗 Links

• 📜 Nick Castellanos may have started a trend with athletes leaving their agents, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the latest to represent himself.

• 💴 Shocked not shocked that Rob Manfred is defending the Dodgers’ runaway spending.

• ✈️ U.S. travel systems and aviation are reportedly not adequate to handle the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games.

• 💰️ Sportsbooks in the U.S. set a new record for profits with $13.71 billion collected after taking almost $150 billion in bets.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

• Sixers vs. Celtics, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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