4 Philadelphia Eagles who won’t be back in 2024 after total collapse

The Philadelphia Eagles started the season 10-1. In the end, Philadelphia was 11-6 and the No. 5 seed in the NFC. With a prime opportunity to bounce back against the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the opening round of the playoffs, Philadelphia instead completed its collapse with another remarkably dire performance, losing 32-9.

A lot of blame will be tossed around. Just about everybody deserves it. Jalen Hurts was terrible. The coaching was unforgivable. Remember that midseason decision to change defensive play-callers? Yikes. The power struggle on offense between Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson has seldom been more evident. DeVonta Smith was effective for a shorthanded WR room, but otherwise, few players stood above the crowd in a positive light.

There was a point not long ago when the Eagles were favorites to win the Super Bowl. Now, we should expect nothing short of drastic offseason changes to reshape the culture around the organization. Howie Roseman has earned the full trust of Eagles ownership, but he will have to operate boldly to salvage a sinking ship.

Here's who will be shown the door this offseason.

4. Eagles won't bring Matt Patricia back as defensive play-caller

After face-planting as the Detroit Lions head coach from 2018-20, Matt Patricia returned to the New England Patriots for a couple years before joining Nick Sirianni's staff as a senior defensive assistant in the offseason. After back-to-back losses to San Francisco and Dallas, Patricia supplanted Sean Desai as the Eagles' defensive play-caller on Dec. 17. That was, to put it simply, a catastrophic choice.

It's difficult to adjust defensive principles midseason. The Eagles' defense took a noticeable hit in lieu of Jonathan Gannon. But, while Desai was clearly a flawed coordinator, the move to suddenly overhaul the system in the back half of the season completely wrecked the Eagles' defense. Communication was out of whack, simple mistakes became commonplace, and opposing offenses ran circles around some of the league's best defensive personnel.

There is no way Patricia can return. Maybe the Eagles can justify bringing him back in a reduced capacity, as a figurehead more than a decision-maker, but there's no reason to let Patricia anywhere near the playbook in 2024. Philadelphia will almost definitely be searching for a new defensive coordinator. Don't expect that person to feel particularly inclined to keep Patricia around.