Eagles news: Steichen’s pink slip, Fangio’s take, and ESPN forgot the Super Bowl 

Training camps across the NFL are winding down, and the season is approaching at an alarmingly violent rate. The time that you get to brag about the Philadelphia Eagles beating the Chiefs 40-6 in Super Bowl LIX without being mocked by the bad guys in /rNFCEastMemeWar is coming to an end.

That doesn’t mean training camp news is slowing down; quite the contrary… quite the contrary indeed. We’re actually getting news from former offensive coordinators, the current defensive coordinator, and also some (kind of) disrespectful power rankings. Let’s get into it. 

Shane Steichen hates his job

Sometimes sports cycles sync up. Out of nowhere, Auburn decided to claim four more NCAA football championships. In return, the Colts, who famously hung the “2014 AFC Finalist” banner after they lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, decided to make some news of their own.

On Tuesday, the Eagles' former offensive coordinator and current head coach of the Colts, Shane Steichen, announced that former Giants quarterback and current doofus, Daniel Jones, would be the starting quarterback in Indianapolis.

It was a battle between him and third-year quarterback Anthony Richardson, who every draft analyst with a valid opinion said was going to be a project. If you remember, he messed up his shoulder and missed almost all of the 2023 season, and in 2024, the Colts started him, benched him, started him again, and then put him on IR.

I’m not trying to say Richardson is a good quarterback or anything like that; he just clearly needed to develop with real playing time if he’s going to reach any sort of his potential.

Instead of doing that and potentially helping that team out in the long run, Shane Steichen decided that ol’ Danny Dimes is going to be their guy this season. It’s absolutely a play to save his job, and a bad one at that. He’s smashing the panic button… in August. Also, that panic button is right next to the eject button.

There’s no way that Steichen woke up that morning, stretched his arms over his head, cracked his knuckles, and said, ‘Alright, today’s the day we change the world. Daniel Jones is my guy, and everyone’s going to love it.’

Instead, he probably woke up that morning, put his head underneath his pillow in the hopes that he could fall asleep and miss the entire day, but finally got up because of a debilitating episode of acid reflux. He walked outside, lit a cigarette, burned it down in one pull, put it out on his arm, and said, ‘That’s the highlight of my day.’

Head coaches of bad teams get fired, and that’s going to happen to Steichen. Also, at some point, Kevin Patullo is going to be hired by another team. When that happens, there’s going to be a big discussion about bringing Steichen back to be the Eagles’ offensive coordinator and chase the 2022 season’s dominance. 

More Vic Fangio insight

Vic Fangio's press conferences are the best because he gives real answers, and he does it without fluff. He spoke to the media on Monday and answered some questions about the defensive backfield and the second preseason game. 

First, he was asked about the second cornerback and if he’s any closer to figuring out who the starter is. He said, “Not yet. I think all the guys are pretty even right now. Jakorian [Bennett] just got here. You know, he got a full week last week. Need to give him a full opportunity with the other guys.”

In his first presser after Bennett got traded to the Eagles, Fangio was asked whether or not he’d be competing for the CB2 spot. He said, “Possibly. I mean, everybody’s got the right to compete out here. I think we need to get his feet under him and get our eyes on him and see what happens over the next few weeks.”

So, in two weeks, Bennett’s gone from “possibly” being able to compete to Fangio bringing him up relatively unsolicited. That seems like a step in the right direction for the guy who’s had the best preseason showing out of the CB2 contenders. Then Fangio dropped a little nugget about Cooper DeJean. 

Back at the beginning of training camp, Fangio said that DeJean would get some reps at outside corner and not just nickel or safety. He was asked why that hadn’t happened yet. He answered, “Watch today’s practice, he’ll be out there for a little bit.” And sure enough, he was… and on Tuesday’s practice too.

Cooper DeJean is one of the Eagles' 11 best players on defense, so you know that he’s going to be on the field as much as humanly possible. In nickel, he’ll be the nickel, but in base, it was looking like he was going to be the second safety. His taking reps on the outside kind of changes things, and it probably has something to do with Drew Mukuba and Sydney Brown showing more good stuff than any of the outside corners. 

Now, that’s not an ultimate fix because the Eagles are in nickel the vast majority of the time. Fangio was asked about the possibility of DeJean playing outside and someone else taking over the slot role. “Not at this time…[it would take] someone to develop at the nickel position and someone not to develop at the corner position.”

That’s all fair stuff. If DeJean is way, way better than his backup at nickel, but he’s just way better than the CB2, then it’d be dumb for him not to play nickel.

That being said, the Eagles are just about two weeks away from starting their season. They have one more training camp practice and one more preseason game before it’s time to officially prep for the Cowboys in Week 1. The clock’s ticking, but if Fangio’s not visibly worried about it, then I’m going to try not to be either. I still am going to be, but I’m going to try not to be.

Preseason Power Rankings:

On Monday, ESPN released its fourth edition of 2025 power rankings. The first was right after, and I mean right after (it was published at 10:25 pm on Feb. 9), the Eagles beat the Chiefs 40-6 in Super Bowl LIX. They had the Birds ranked at No. 4 behind the Lions, the Bills, and the Chiefs... Who again, they had just stomped into oblivion.

The second was a post-free agency ranking, which came out on Mar.24, and had the Eagles ranked No. 2 behind the Chiefs… a team that they had just mercy-killed a month and a half ago. 

So in a six-week span where the Eagles re-signed Zack Baun and Saquon Barkley, but lost Brandon Graham, Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, C.J. Garner-Johnson, Mekhi Becton, Big Play Slay, and Isaiah Rodgers, the Eagles jumped up two spots in ESPN’s power rankings. Sure, whatever. It seems dumb, but whatever. 

The third was a post-draft ranking that was published on May 5. On that one, the Eagles stayed at No. 2 behind, yet again, the Chiefs. Keep in mind, at this point, the Chiefs were just brutally slaughtered in front of their friends, family, and the world by the Eagles a short 12 weeks prior. Again, seems super dumb, but if ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’ says so, then that means it’s true.

Finally, the preseason power ranking came out. In that one, the Eagles are ranked No. 1. The first sentence of the piece says, “The Eagles are well-established, coming off a Super Bowl.”

Are you kidding me? Is this a joke? 27 weeks after the Super Bowl, these people are just now remembering that the Eagles emphatically defeated the Chiefs in front of everyone? Are they specifically playing a joke on me (read: us)? What the hell? Dude. Come on.