Eagles’ Vic Fangio on Nick Sirianni’s season, Bryce Huff and more

Eagles’ Vic Fangio on Nick Sirianni’s season, Bryce Huff and more originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Vic Fangio doesn’t blow smoke.

The 66-year-old defensive coordinator is refreshingly honest whenever he’s in front of a microphone, so when he goes out of his way to praise someone it generally means more.

And Fangio was quick to praise head coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday.

“I think he’s done a great job coaching the team and having these guys prepared mentally and emotionally,” Fangio said. “He’s done a great job of leading the staff. He’s got good messages every week tailored to the team we’re playing and tailored to us as a team. I think he’s done a fantastic job.”

Fangio is a longtime defensive coordinator and a former NFL head coach, so he has seen a lot during his time in the NFL. His praise of Sirianni on Tuesday seemed genuine.

Sirianni has the Eagles locked in as the No. 2 seed in the NFC with 13 wins this season as they enter Week 18. So much of the offseason was about Sirianni’s job security and his new role as a CEO head coach but things have gone well.

While this season hasn’t been without bumps for Sirianni, the results are hard to argue.

Huff makes his return

Bryce Huff missed five weeks after having wrist surgery in late November but made his return last week against the Cowboys. After fighting through a shoulder injury, Huff played 14 snaps in the 41-7 win but didn’t find his way into the stat sheet.

What did Fangio think of Huff’s performance? And can Huff help the Eagles in the playoffs?

“He was rusty,” Fangio said, “but think there is something there that hopefully he can build on and improve on. Hopefully, we’ll continue that this week and see where it goes.”

While several key players will likely sit in Week 18, the Eagles should get Huff some more snaps, especially if he looked rusty against the Cowboys. After Huff went on IR, Brandon Graham’s season ended with a torn triceps, so the Eagles were down to a three-man rotation.

Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt are going to keep playing in the playoffs but it can’t hurt to add Huff to the mix. The Eagles signed Huff to a three-year, $51.1 million deal this offseason and he clearly didn’t live up to that, even before the injury.

But if Huff makes a big play in the playoffs, he can make up for a lot of it.

On the linebackers

The Eagles didn’t have Nakobe Dean (abdomen) against the Cowboys on Sunday so they started Oren Burks and rotated Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in with him.

Fangio on Tuesday explained the reason for the rotation was because neither Burks nor Trotter had played much on defense this year and both have a lot on their plate on special teams. Fangio wanted to make sure their workloads didn’t get too heavy.

Burks ended up with a forced fumble against the Cowbosy and Trotter played fairly well too.

“It was fine,” Fangio said about Trotter’s game. “Obviously, a couple plays that he would like to have back, but I thought it was good for his first time extended action in a real game.”

Though, there’s no doubt that the Eagles missed Dean on Sunday. While Zack Baun has been playing at an All-Pro level in 2024, Dean has quietly put together a really strong season as their middle linebacker and is one of the most improved players on the entire team.

“Nakobe has had a really good year,” Fangio said. “Zack has gotten a lot of attention for his great play, but Nakobe has played great too. We miss him when he’s not in there. He is the green dot guy when he’s in there, and he has been playing his position really well and improving on a weekly basis too.”

The new backup safety

When Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson got a little banged up on Sunday against the Cowboys, it wasn’t Tristin McCollum or even Sydney Brown who replaced them.

It was Avonte Maddox.

“He’s just been doing good in practice throughout the year,” Fangio said. “I felt it was warranted.”

Maddox, 28, began the season as the Eagles’ nickel cornerback but lost that job coming out of the bye week in the fifth game of the season. There’s no doubt that inserting Cooper DeJean helped. And then recently, Maddox lost his job as the extra DB in the nickel package to Isaiah Rodgers.

So it’s notable that Maddox is now the top backup safety. The Eagles obviously hope that Blankenship and CJGJ stay healthy but if they have to leave a game in the playoffs, it looks like Maddox is the next guy in.

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