Nick Sirianni has been receiving his share of criticism for the Philadelphia Eagles’ disappointing loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs. Stephen A. Smith is among those taking shots at the head coach for his failures in their demise this year.
He even stated that he believes general manager Howie Roseman will take away one of the major responsibilities of his current role.
Stephen A. Smith Advises Eagles to Make a Change Without Nick Sirianni
Sirianni has found plenty of success as the head coach of the Eagles, including winning a ring last year in his second Super Bowl appearance. He has also been part of two massively disappointing seasons, with the most recent one coming in 2025, marked by an early playoff exit to the depleted 49ers.
Smith addressed their failures during an episode of “First Take” and put most of the blame on their offense, which struggled for much of this year. He explained why this should convince Roseman to strip Sirianni of one of his key privileges as the head coach of the team.
“You’ve had two bites at the apple with Johnson and Patullo, it didn’t work out. The one time we had Kellen Moore, we won a Super Bowl. So clearly, [Howie Roseman] is better at that than you are. You have lost your privileges to choose an offensive coordinator as the head coach. Period, ain’t nothing to debate,” stated Smith.
“You have lost your privileges to choose an offensive coordinator as the head coach.”@stephenasmith weighs in on Nick Sirianni after the Eagles’ loss to the 49ers ✍️ pic.twitter.com/DWdLXCmxPx
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 13, 2026
Smith pointed out that each of Sirianni’s past two hires as his offensive coordinator, Brian Johnson and Kevin Patullo, have both struggled to get their offense to be as productive as it should be, despite having elite talent at almost every position.
He reminded the Eagles that the last time Roseman picked the OC, Kellen Moore, was last year, when they went on to win a Super Bowl.
Moore departed after just one season to accept the role as head coach of the New Orleans Saints. With Patullo replacing him at the head coach’s reported request, they recorded their worst finish in PFSN’s Impact Rankings in any of the five years since Sirianni became their head coach.
Smith offered the Eagles a simple solution: to give the task of hiring their next offensive coordinator to Roseman instead. This, of course, also implies that he expects Patullo to be fired after just one year, as Johnson was.
