Eagles promote Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Eagles have found their offensive coordinator. The Eagles on Tuesday promoted quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator.
Johnson will replace Shane Steichen, who was hired as the Indianapolis Colts' head coach earlier this month.
"With Brian, I'm in there with him every single day and seeing him work every single day, seeing him with the quarterbacks, seeing him in game planning meetings, seeing him on the practice field," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. "So, I thought that was the natural progression for us to go that route. His relationship with Jalen [Hurts] and just Brian is a sharp, sharp dude. I lean on him for so many different things and now he's in charge of running the offense."
The Eagles also filled their other coordinator vacancy by hiring Sean Desai as the team's defensive coordinator replacing Jonathan Gannon, who became the Arizona Cardinals' head coach.
Brian Johnson has been named our Offensive Coordinator! 👏
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 28, 2023
We've made additional updates to the offensive coaching staff.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/jcpU3pvbzl
Johnson joined the Eagles in 2021 as the team's quarterbacks coach from the University of Florida.
He was at Florida from 2018 until 2020, serving as the QB coach from 2018 to 2019 and then was the team's offensive coordinator in 2020.
When Johnson was Florida's offensive coordinator, the Gators had the most prolific passing offense in the FBS, averaging 387.6 passing yards. They also ranked seventh in total offense and eighth in scoring offense.
Johnson played college football as a quarterback at the University of Utah. He led the Utes to an undefeated season as a senior, including a game where they upset No. 4 ranked Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl, where he was named MVP.
Johnson has been instrumental in the development of Jalen Hurts, and he has a long relationship with the quarterback.
Johnson has known Hurts since he was 4 years old. He played under Hurts' father, Averion, at Baytown Lee High School in Texas.
Plus, Johnson recruited Hurts to Mississippi State University when he was coming out of high school.
Sirianni said Johnson's relationship with Hurts and maintaining stability was one of the many reasons why the team promoted him to offensive coordinator.
"Obviously, Shane will be gone," Sirianni said. "There will be little differences and little different ways that the game is called, but the way the offense is run with everything is going to be exactly the same."
The Eagles also named Alex Tanney as their new quarterbacks' coach, Marcus Brady as a senior offensive assistant and T.J. Paganetti as the team's run game specialist and assistant tight ends coach.
Brady was the offensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts before he got fired last November. He worked with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni during his time in Indy.
Tanney and Paganetti were both in-house promotions.
Tanney was the assistant quarterbacks' coach and offensive assistant in 2022, while Paganetti was an offensive quality control coach for the past two seasons and has been with the team for several years in various roles.