Jonathan Gannon realized Shane Steichen was meant to be an NFL head coach almost immediately after they both joined the Philadelphia Eagles staff in 2021. So Gannon began taking notes.
Now, three years later, Gannon and Steichen, who were coordinators for the Eagles’ 2022 NFC championship run, are back together for joint practices this week as head coaches of the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts.
Gannon said of Steichen, “The first thing I noticed is he’s a really great communicator and a great teacher, and you could tell he had the ‘it’ factor. He is very detailed. I learned a lot from him, but I had to get more detailed just to keep up with him.”
They made a strong team, along with the Eagles head coach who hired them, Nick Sirianni.
Sirianni and Steichen had worked together as offensive assistants with the Chargers before Sirianni left in 2018 to become the Colts’ offensive coordinator. Two years later, after the Chargers moved to Los Angeles, Steichen became their coordinator.
When Sirianni took the Eagles job in 2021, he brought Steichen with him to run an offense that thrived with Jalen Hurts as an MVP candidate.
Gannon had also worked with Sirianni before, serving as the Colts’ defensive backs coach in 2018. Three years later, Gannon joined Sirianni in Philadelphia as the defensive coordinator for the first time.
That’s where things really took off for them.
Gannon said, “Shane’s as good as they come. We worked for a really good boss, but we were kind of in the foxhole together and really learned a lot about him.”
The trio led the Eagles to the playoffs in their first season together and then to the NFC’s top seed with a 14-3 record, reaching the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl.
It was no surprise that their successful coaching careers quickly made Gannon and Steichen popular choices for head coaching positions. It didn’t take long for them to leave the Eagles and follow their dreams as head coaches.
Steichen wasn’t shocked.
“Absolutely great leader,” Steichen said about Gannon. “The two years I was working in Philly, just a tremendous guy, great energy. You can feel him on the defensive side of the ball, and then sometimes as a coordinator you get a chance to talk to the team in team settings. And when he spoke, you could feel he would be a great head coach.”
Whether they will be successful remains to be seen.
Neither made the playoffs last season, and neither is favored to win their divisions this season. Both are counting on high-profile draft picks who are expected to be franchise quarterbacks but have injury concerns.
They are also working to strengthen their receiving teams and improve their defenses for 2024.
But their coaching skills haven’t changed, which is why they agreed to have two joint practices at Grand Park Sports Campus in suburban Indianapolis before their second preseason game on Saturday.
The usual fights and scuffles that often happen in joint practices were mostly avoided, although there was a minor altercation during a kickoff drill on Thursday night. It was all planned.
“Shane’s got like eight plans, but the practice schedule will be the same as yesterday,” Gannon said before the rain came on Thursday. “I thought it (Wednesday) was a pretty clean practice, the right way, good intensity. I thought we did a good job, both teams did a good job of protecting their teams as well.”
Steichen mentioned on Thursday that he wouldn’t play his starters on Saturday night. Gannon said he would decide later in the week. While they were focused on the field, they also had time to catch up off the field.
