Haason Reddick: Eagles' defense will "do a few things differently" under Sean Desai

Haason Reddick talks Browns joint practices, Sean Desai and more

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There will be plenty of familiar faces from the 2022 Eagles team that made it to the Super Bowl returning for the 2023 season. 

There are Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Jason Kelce and plenty of others. 

But, there are also a lot of new faces, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. 

The Eagles lost five defensive starters from the 2022 season. First-year defensive coordinator Sean Desai, a Temple University alumnus who spent last season with the Seattle Seahawks as the team's associate head coach and defensive assistant, will be tasked with leading the unit.   

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Desai, who spent the 2021 season as the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator, replaced Jonathan Gannon after he became the Arizona Cardinals' head coach following the Super Bowl. 

With Desai at the helm, Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick said the team's defense will be slightly different in 2023.

"We're going to do a few things differently," Reddick told CBS Sports NFL analysts Jonathan Jones and Bryant McFadden on Monday during their NFL Training Camp Tour. "We're going to attack the offense a lot bit differently, but for the main part, we're still an attack defense. We're still getting after it. Like I said, get them in passing situations, let our dogs up front, go ahead and try to get after the quarterback. While there is a few little caveats, a few differences from Gannon's defense last year, we still have the same mentality."  

Having that same mentality will be key to the Eagles' success on defense. 

The Eagles set a franchise record for sacks last season with 70, three shy of breaking the record by the Chicago Bears in 1984. 

Last season, the Birds had four players with double-digit sacks for the first time ever. One of those players, Javon Hargrave, left for the San Francisco 49ers in free agency

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The Eagles drafted Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter to replace Hargrave in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft in April. 

Carter has impressed Reddick throughout training camp, but getting double-digit sacks as a rookie is a tall task. 

"It's hard. I'm not going to sit here even though we did it last year, it's hard to get 70 sacks," Reddick said. "That's a bunch of sacks, but the goal is to continue to be a ferocious pass-rushing team. Get out there and stop the run, put the opposite offense in passing situations and that's getting after it. That's our style of play, that's what we like to do. So it's definitely a goal of ours we're trying to keep this year."

If you're hoping to see what Desai's defense will look like in Week 2 of the preseason vs. the Cleveland Browns, don't get your hopes up.

The Eagles are purposefully keeping the defense vanilla to keep teams off guard for the 2023 season. 

Desai told reporters this week about 95 to 98% of his defense has been installed at this point.  

Desai, who has learned from defensive minds like Vic Fangio, John Fox, Mel Tucker and Chuck Pagano throughout his coaching career, spoke about his defense in May. 

"We want to make sure that people feel us," Desai said a few months back. "We want to be able to run. We want to be able to hit, and we want to play smart. I think that's a reflection of who we are obviously as a obviously Philadelphia Eagles defense, a reflection of really the history of the Philadelphia Eagles defense, and a reflection of this city, and that's what we want to be."  

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