Kellen Moore could be the New Orleans Saints head coach as early as next week, but as he sat in the Caesars Superdome on Monday the Eagles offensive coordinator made it clear where his priorities lie.
That is, of course, on his current Eagles squad and their opportunity to face the Chiefs and end their hopes for an unprecedented NFL three-peat.
“It’s obviously been a good process," Moore said at Super Bowl media night. "You have an opportunity to go through these different processes and having an opportunity to meet with [Saints GM Mickey Loomis] and their leadership group has been great and it’s set up in a way that allows us to focus on this game."
Moore did finish that quote off with a bit of a tease for Saints fans: "We’ll see what happens after that.”
Saints brass flew out to meet up with Moore 8 days ago for an in-person interview following the Eagles' victory over the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship. It was by all accounts a quality interview and lasted into the early hours of Tuesday morning. The Saints, per NFL rules, are not allowed to have any contact with Moore until following the Super Bowl.
The Saints intend to meet with Moore again next week, presumably with Moore staying in New Orleans after the game. The team is eager to avoid any tampering issues, such as occurred with the Arizona Cardinals two years ago in their pursuit of then-Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. Those tampering complaints resulted in some draft compensation heading the Eagles' direction.
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History could be repeated for the Eagles, though they'd surely hope a coordinator departure is coming off a win. The Saints have not officially ruled out their other interviewees in interim head coach and special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, Giants OC Mike Kafka and Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver, though they have been informed that no decision would be made until after the Super Bowl. That decision alone is telling, because any of those three coaches could be hired immediately if they were atop the Saints' list. The waiting game is centered around Moore, who avoided tipping his hand despite repeated questions about the job.
“It’s just, it’s pure focus on this," Moore said. "You don’t have to worry about a single thing except for this opportunity.”
What he did do was compliment the organization and team, which he saw up close in Week 3 of this past season. That game saw his Eagles offense stifled throughout a majority of the game and shut out through three quarters before getting untracked with big plays down the stretch. The Saints, despite a disappointing season, were in control of that game, leading by 5 with 1:16 to play before the Saints busted a coverage and Dallas Goedert broke free for a 61-yard gain on 3rd and 16. The Eagles won 15-12 and largely dominated the rest of the season as the Saquon Barkley-led offense dialed in one of the best rushing attacks the NFL has seen in quite some time.
"There’s a lot of good pieces [on the Saints]," Moore said. "We came down here and we had a really good battle, you know, Week 3 and it was a challenge and we were fortunate to come out of here with a win and so, you know, every time you come down here it seems to be a challenge, each and every time we come down here and play.”
The Saints' interest in Moore makes sense, even if at 36 years old he's a youngster in the coaching ranks. He makes up for that with a lifetime of football knowledge, starting around the dinner table. Kellen's father, Tom, was a high school football coach and has 21 league and four state titles to his credit. Moore went on to start 53 games at quarterback for Boise State, then spend 6 years in the NFL as a backup quarterback before transitioning immediately into coaching. When he first took over as the offensive coordinator in Dallas in 2019, he was tasked with coaching a host of players he was teammates with just 2 years prior. He's since gone on to spend 6 years as an offensive coordinator split between the Cowboys, Chargers and now the Eagles. For comparison, Sean Payton was 42 when he was hired by the Saints and had spent 3 seasons as an offensive coordinator.
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“Certainly just being at different places, teaming up with different players, different coaches, allows yourself to play in different styles," Moore said. "Certainly I think that’s something I’ve been able to grow with, going from Dallas to L.A. and now Philadelphia, we’ve certainly played three different styles and it’s fun when you team up with different people just building it, ultimately, however we want to.”
Moore says "high-level" communication is the biggest key to coaching and leading a group, and yes, he would intend to keep calling plays in a head coaching role.
"I'd love to call plays. Certainly it's a passion of mine and something that has gotten me to this place," he said. "And so certainly you'd hate to stop doing what you love as you through this journey."
We'll have to wait and see whether Kellen Moore's journey in the coaching ranks lands him in the same city he hopes to win a ring this week.