Nick Sirianni

Q. Former Eagles LB Christian Elliss, did you guys expect him to get through waivers? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, we knew he had some good special teams tape out there. I thought he played a good game the other day as well. We were hoping, but you know, happy for Christian to land on his feet. Obviously, we were hoping to get him back. But, yeah, he’s in a good place and I wish him the best of luck.

Q. Are you good with where you are with off-ball linebackers at this point? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I do. I feel good right now. We will just continue to work with the guys we have, and I think we’ll just — like I said, we’re really excited about the addition of [newly acquired Eagles linebacker] Shaq [Leonard].

Q. How has LB Shaq Leonard been integrated so far and has he been in practice, what you remembered? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously we had walk-through the other day and then practice yesterday. I thought he had a good practice, learning the system. Always is going to bring energy. Always liked being around him. We’ll see a little bit more today.

Q. On special teams, former Eagles LB Christian Elliss was playing 76% of the snaps. Who steps up now? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously it’s not always just one specific guy in for the other. But some other guys will — we’ll have a bunch of different guys that are taking different spots, right, on all his different [special] teams [units].

Really excited about [LB] Ben [VanSumeren] and what he’s been able to contribute to the special teams, but we’ll miss Christian’s contribution to it, and we’ve been really good on special teams this year.

Q. While TE Dallas Goedert was out, you guys found some other ways to use your offense, including 10 personnel for example. With the things that you learned from that time, possibly bringing him back in, how do you balance those two things you learned and what you can have when you bring him back? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, the more things you can do the harder obviously you are to defend, but when Dallas is here, we’re going to want him on the field. To say we’re never going to do 10 [personnel] again is crazy. We’ll do 10 [personnel]. Dallas is such a weapon, and you want your best players on the field.

We’ll see how that goes. Like you said, we did a lot of different things personnel-wise, which will still be part of who we are, just again, to make us more multiple to defend.

Q. On Wednesday, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jeff McLane asked about the snatch for DE Josh Sweat and LB Haason Reddick. Since former Eagles DE Derek Barnett was released, LB Nolan Smith hasn’t really taken a big jump there. What’s holding him back from playing more and dipping into those snaps? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think it’s still what I said to Jeff earlier. You know, these games are tight, and you want the best guys in at the end. Obviously with Haason and with [Sweat], those are the guys that have been our closers and we wanted them in in those particular cases.

It has nothing to do with Nolan and what he’s doing. He’s behind [DE Brandon Graham], Haason, and Sweat, and when the games are close and the games are tight, we’re going to roll with those guys. That doesn’t mean his role won’t increase, but he’s in a deep room. But he is contributing, he’s contributing the reps he contributes on defensive end, and I think he is playing really physical and good on special teams as well.

It’s really more of the type of room he’s in and the game, the way the games are going as opposed to what Nolan is doing. I’m excited about Nolan and that he’s here and he’s continuing to develop.

Q. Not that personal accolades matter that much, but S Reed Blankenship, somebody like that developing to this point where he’s leading the Pro Bowl voting… (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Oh, is he? Nice.

Q. What does that mean to you? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I just found out. No, excited for him. When you have honors as a team, and who knows how that’s going to go. I don’t even know how much more time there is before — how much more time is there before Pro Bowl?

Q. A lot. Three weeks. (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Three weeks? You know, any honor you get as a team — what happens when you’re good as a football team, the more honors you get. That’s exciting for the team because the team is doing well and then obviously for those guys. You want guys to be recognized on your team for the things they’ve done.

And so, Reed has done a nice job of filling in last year and stepping into a starting role this year. What you always notice about Reed is how physical of a player he is, how good he is coming up and making tackles and making timely plays on the ball. So, that’s exciting. That’s going to be exciting for any of our guys that get post-season awards, or Pro Bowl awards or anything like that. I think that’s really exciting for our guys.

Again, you see it all the time. It’s like teams that have the better records are usually the ones getting six, seven, eight [players] in the Pro Bowl, or whatever it is. That’s good for the team, that’s good for the guys.