Nick Sirianni

Q. Everyone knew you were going to be here, but what does it mean to you to get the extension and have that out of the way? (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, very thankful to [Chairman/CEO] Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie for believing in me to hire me four years ago, and that I’m able to continue being the head football coach of this team and just can’t thank him and the organization and [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] enough for everything. What a great owner we have. Like I said, I can’t be more thankful. My family’s thankful. I’m thankful and I love being the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and looking forward to continuing on.

Q. How many years is multi-year? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: I’m not going to get into the details of any of that stuff. Sorry, I don’t want to-

Q. Is there a reason why? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: No, I just won’t get into the details of any of that. Usually coach contracts are- you don’t get those [details] as much, right?

Q. This is a business where people don’t stick around a lot. You’ve been around for long enough. How nice is it for you to know that you’re going to [be able to raise your family] here? (Bob Brookover)

Nick Sirianni: We love this city. I know how happy I am being able to come into this office every day and work for Mr. Lurie and work alongside Howie and with all the great players we have. My wife loves this city, and my kids love this city, and we’re sure glad that it will be our home for the foreseeable future.

Q. The four years you’ve spent here, what do you think you’ve learned most about being in this job? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: Shoot, you’re learning– I could answer that for a long time. You learn every single day. You’re constantly trying to grow every single day.

I think the main things, and not that you learn it on this job, but the main things that anytime someone asks me about what it takes to be successful or this and that, it feels like the common theme that I always come back to is you have to work your butt off. You have to work insanely hard. Work harder and put in hours and put in more time than you ever thought you had to.

Then you have to be able to embrace adversity. Because adversity, it’s coming. So, what I think you learn– not that I learned that on this job, but it’s cemented even more and more every day I go through that. And so, those are the keys in my mind.

Q. What are your thoughts on everything that you’ve accomplished here so far and how far you personally have come from the first press conference to the growing of the roots to a .742 winning percentage after that comment. All the ups and downs. What are your thoughts on how much you have overcome here in this role? (Dave Uram)

Nick Sirianni: Everybody that is striving to reach the top of the mountain or whatever it is like we try to do every single year, adversity is going to be there regardless. I really look at any adversity that I’ve ever been through in my life, whether it was my leg injury in 2001, whether it was my dad going through cancer, whether it was the collapse of our season at the end of the 2023 season and finishing 1-6.

Every one of those things, whether it’s scrutiny from, like you said [my] first press conference, I can look at the good in all those things and find good in all those things and how it’s shaped me to be who I am today and has made me better as a result of it. You never want to go through those things as you go through them, but if you allow it to shape you, it really does.

It can shape you and to be better and to be who you are at this moment. So, I would say for all the things that I’ve been through, whether it’s on this job or whether it’s in my life, I’ve been able to get better from all those things and I’m grateful. As crazy as that sounds, as bad as it is when you go through those things, I can look back at it and be grateful. You hope that the next adversities you go through, you remember, ‘Hey, you’re going to be grateful for this one as well.’ I hope I answered your question.

Q. As a follow-up, you’ve been at your best, it seems, when there’s pressure or tension, for lack of a better term there. Now that you’ve won the Super Bowl, you have this security, how do you manufacture that tension, discomfort, whatever term you would use there? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I feel fortunate that I’m around a lot of guys like our coaches and our players on this team that we have this will to win, right? Someone put it this way– I’ve talked to a lot of coaches this offseason trying to get better at my craft, and somebody put it this way; you don’t win a pickup basketball game and say, ‘All right, I’m satisfied. I’m going home.’ You say, ‘Hey, how do we run it back?’ And we’re not even thinking about running it back.

We’re thinking about where we are today and trying to get better, but you strap up and you play again. I think there’s always pressure in this profession, and [I’m] looking forward to the next year and building this team. Everything else is in the past. Everything else that goes in, I think that when teams are trying so hard to repeat or trying so hard to recapture, there’s two mistakes that they make.

They either are looking at their past accomplishments or they’re looking too far into the future of how do you do that again? And it’s really about the daily grind that you go through day in and day out. There’s a mental toughness to being able to do that and go through that every single day.

I want to do my job just to do what’s best for this football team and make Mr. Lurie proud that he made the right decision and help these players continue to get better. Every challenge– there’s a new challenge with every team of building the team. That’s what’s so cool about a season is that you start again, and you’re right back to the beginning and going through the same steps that you went through in the beginning.

I think, again, when you’re self-motivated, and it may appear that I might be my best when I have scrutiny or as opposed to the other side, but when you’re self-motivated, the outside noise shouldn’t affect you and doesn’t affect you. You put your head down and you work to get better.

Q. The push vote coming tomorrow. Are you still actively lobbying and calling around to get some support, and do you feel like the deck is stacked against you guys? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: We’ll see. We’ll see where that goes. We’re not waiting for very long to figure it out. It’s going to be public tomorrow, and you know how I feel about it. We obviously were at the owner’s meetings. We talked about how we felt about it and I don’t think anyone could question what my sentiment is on it. So, we’ll see what happens with it tomorrow.

Q. Speaking of running it back again, QB Jalen Hurts is going to have a new offensive coordinator/play caller again, for now. How do you think he’s going to handle that? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: The same way he’s handled it every year. I think he’s a guy that just is going to– again, same thing, start right from the beginning again, working out like crazy again, getting ready again in the classroom, getting ready on the field.

I don’t notice any difference, whether it was [former Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] being the coordinator, Brian [Johnson], Shane [Steichen] or [current Offensive Coordinator] Kevin [Patullo]. I see the same process that he goes through, which is what makes Jalen special, is that he goes through the same process over and over and over again. The minute details. Just the same, over and over and over again, you just see him go through it and try to get better from new experiences, new voices.

I think Kevin’s done a great job. I really have been impressed with how hungry Kevin is for this opportunity and all the good new ideas that he’s bringing. Even though Kevin’s been with me for eight years, there’s still things that when you’re in charge that [you’re] like, ‘Hey, now let’s do this. Let’s give this an opportunity.’ So, I’m really excited about where we are there, and I don’t see any change in Jalen and anything that he does and how he preps, regardless of who the coordinator is.\

Q. What have you learned about the fostering of the cultivation of those ideas? Because you have had to change coordinators a lot and that’s the mark of a consistent head coach. What have you learned that works in that regard? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: You always want to do the things that your players do best. There’s figuring out who the players are. Now, Kevin’s obviously been here through the four years. He has a very good feel of what they do and what they do well.

And so, you always want to do what they do best. You always want to keep things in that you’ve done well, that you want to continue to grow and dress up a little bit. And then also some new wrinkles that kind of mesh to that. And then you have some things that might be brand new, but that’s the beauty of the offseason. You go through your process, and you decide, ‘Hey, here’s what’s primary, here’s what’s secondary, here’s out, here’s what’s new.’ Then you start repping. It kind of evolves as you go.

Q. This is your second time coming off playing in the Super Bowl. Obviously, the result was different this time, but what did you learn about how playing into Super Bowl in 2022 impacted 2023, and are there any changes you’re making for this upcoming season based off that? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: It’s always a fine line I think of managing guys as far as their bodies go, and then daily improvement. There is no secret. Someone asked me earlier and I said there is no secret. You have to be able to overcome adversity, and you have to work hard. There is a fine line between that, though, of the grind that you put in of coming off of a long season and having the guys ready to play each Sunday and getting better. If you lean too far one way and say, ‘Alright, it’s just important that we get to Sunday with ourselves as fresh as we can possibly be,’ then maybe you miss out on some opportunities to grow your fundamentals and your situational football and all the different things that it takes there. If you lean too far the other way, you run them into the ground.

So there’s a fine line there. It’s not a– and I don’t think there’s a handbook that says this is how long. You’ve got to have a feel for the players. You have to be in constant communication with your players and how they’re feeling. You’ve got to know what players to say, ‘Hey, how are you feeling?’ And know who’s trying to maybe get a couple reps off and who’s really telling you the truth.

You’ve got to do the same thing with the doctors and the training staff and the strength coaches. The good thing is here I’ve got a lot of players that I can lean on and trust there. I’ve got a lot of guys there with Nando [Director of Player Performance and Sports Science/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach] Fernando Noriega] and [Vice President of Sports Medicine/Head Athletic Trainer] Tom [Hunkele] and [Vice President of Athlete Care/Chief Medical Officer/Head Team Physician] Arsh [Dhanota, MD, CAQSM] that give me their best advice as well.

And then it’s my job to listen to all parties and do what I think is best for the football team while having all that information. There is a fine line, but I know there’s no substitute for hard work and getting better. But then again, you’ve got to think about the length of the season and where you are at that particular point because one week might be a little bit harder than another week, and all those things are balanced out and thought about each and every week.

Q. You said you’ve spoken to a lot of coaches. Who have you spoken to and who gave that pickup basketball analogy? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I can’t remember who gave the pickup basketball analogy, but I’ve talked to a bunch of different guys. I don’t mind sharing that with you. I always talk to [former Mount Union Head] Coach [Larry] Kehres. I always talk to [former Villanova Men’s Basketball] Coach [Jay] Wright. I was fortunate to speak with [former Alabama Head] Coach [Nick] Saban this year. [Women’s Basketball Head] Coach Geno [Auriemma] at UConn, [Women’s Basketball Head] Coach [Dawn] Staley at South Carolina.

So there’s just been a lot of good insight that I’ve been able to pick up from them. And again, you’ve got to continue to try to grow at all times. I’ve been thankful for them talking to me and passing that knowledge of questions that I have.

Q. At what point during the offseason were you able to turn the page from, ‘We won the Super Bowl,’ to, ‘Okay, let’s look ahead to next year.’ (Ed Kracz)

Nick Sirianni: I know this sounds crazy, but right away. Of course, I enjoyed the parade and of course I enjoyed the flight back home, but then Kellen got the job and you’re right back into filling coaching spots. So, your calendar is always completely full and you’re just constantly trying to get better at what you did the year before. How do you hire coaches better? And then go through that process.

Then it’s to the draft and free agency, and then it’s into players phase one. You’ve got to turn the page. You can enjoy it, but you can only enjoy it for a little bit, but you’ve got to turn the page, and you’ve got to turn the page quickly because we’ll have a high standard for ourselves. I know you all will have a high standard for us, but we know how high our standard is for ourselves, and it takes steps, and that’s mental toughness.

I think I talked about this with the players today. I think sometimes when I talk, I tend to talk to them a lot about mental toughness and I talk to them about overcoming adversity, and that’s a big part of mental toughness. But another part of this mental toughness thing is going through the same monotonous things over and over and over again and having the same attitude and effort no matter what the circumstances are, right?

‘We just went through this draft process. Well, let’s do it again.’ There’s a mental toughness to doing the same things in the same steps over and over again. I’d like to also say, I couldn’t tell you how many players and coaches have come up to me and just say congratulations. It felt like my response was– again, I got a chance to thank Mr. Lurie in my opening, but it felt like with every player that I talked to, the main thing that was coming out of my mouth was, ‘Well, I’m not in this situation without great players, and I’m not in this situation where I’m able to sign a new contract without great coaches, and I’m not in this situation to be here without Howie.’

So, it truly is that you can’t be great without the greatness of others. Whether it was Jalen coming up to me– and I said the same thing to all those guys, Jalen, [TE] Dallas [Goedert], [Senior Defensive Assistant/Defensive Line Coach] Clint Hurtt, [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio], Howie.

Again, it just shows you how awesome a team sport like football is. It takes everybody, and I sure am grateful for Mr. Lurie and all the players and all the coaches here that put me in this position to be able to do this.

Q. From that professional standpoint, adversity and all that. But on a personal level, is there any validation in a Super Bowl extension just when you’re by yourself? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: You can either go at it and be like, ‘Ah, look at me now.’ But I don’t think that– I’m grateful for all of that scrutiny. I’m grateful for that for multiple reasons. I’m grateful in the sense that it shapes you to who you are going to be. God puts you through things and it shapes you to who he wants you to be.

And then also, through scrutiny and through different things like that and adversities that you face, I’m going to be able to raise my kids and they’re going to be going through things and I’m going to be able to look back at things. There’s another reason I’m grateful, I’m grateful for that in the sense as well of players that are going to have to go through that because no one’s exempt from adversity that you go through in the challenges of the NFL.

So, I don’t think you can have a grateful heart for the things that you’ve gone through to shape you to who you are. And then on the other end, go, ‘Oh look, what do you say now?’ You know what I’m saying? And so that gratefulness for the scrutiny and for the adversity and all those things that you said, it’s not validating. It is a grateful heart more so than the validation of a contract or a Super Bowl.