It's still early — really, really early — to start evaluating every single aspect of Nick Sirianni's performance as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach. He had some pretty big shoes to fill, replacing Super Bowl winner Doug Pederson after five memorable, if a little tumultuous, years in the City of Brotherly Love. He's already experiencing the scrutiny and criticism of pretty much every member of the fan base, something that happened from the moment he was hired, and he's likely going to learn a lot over the next several weeks as he completes his first campaign as a head coach.
Perhaps it might expedite that learning process if he were to know what Pederson's biggest overall takeaway was after his half-decade at the helm, and it just so happens that the former Eagles coach conveniently revealed exactly that. Discussing his career and coaching techniques with Robert Mays on "The Athletic Football Show," Pederson encapsulated five years of coaching with one big takeaway.
And no, Eagles fans: though you might want that takeaway to have been "establish the run," that's not what Pederson went with, despite finishing in the top ten three times with the Eagles in rushing attempts. By the way, isn't that weird to think about, especially after last year's anti-run fest? But I digress. Instead, Pederson went a little deeper.
"You know, I think the biggest thing is... just understanding your guys, understanding your players," Pederson said. "Building relationships with your team, sort of [being] that kind-of father figure to the guys. I think that's so important, to be able to show your players that you care about them, number one. And yeah, you're their coach and they're there to play football and help us win some games, but at the same time, understanding your team and your roster, just getting to know them, getting to know their families a little bit — I think that the biggest thing that I learned in my five years was just those types of relationships because, man, when you want to crawl in that foxhole with one of those guys, you know that they've got your back and vice versa."
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Perhaps Sirianni isn't the most ideal candidate as a father figure, seeing as he's only 40 years old, just a handful of years older than players like Jason Kelce and Brandon Graham. But the sentiment applies to whoever, be it a 35-year-old newcomer as a head coach or a grizzled, 65-year-old veteran. Having that sort of relationship with your players, where they respect you as not only a coach but a mentor, friend and supporter, obviously pays huge dividends.
In the summer before the 2020 season, NFL.com's Jim Trotter asked eight players to name the three most important qualities of a successful head coach, and these were the top responses for each player interviewed:
Jared Goff: Listening
Frank Gore: Honesty
Larry Fitzgerald: Gaining a player's trust
Travis Kelce: Leadership
Jack Conklin: Consistency
Calais Campbell: Open and frank communication
Demario Davis: Leader of men
Richard Sherman: Philosophy/honesty
And based on Pederson's big takeaway from his five years, it seems like his thoughts align a lot with what these top players find most important in a coach.
"...The biggest thing that I learned, just supporting these guys, helping them, because they want to be coached. And they want to be coached hard, they want to improve every single day, they want to feel like they've been coached," Pederson said. "And so that was always, I think, the biggest thing for me, was just understanding them, them understanding me, being transparent. And look, I wasn't gonna B.S. them. I was gonna shoot them straight — shoot them straight when they weren't playing well, shoot them straight when they were playing well, you know?
"...I think that type of relationship with your team can go a long way. Those guys really respond to coaches like that."
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