Kelce gives his perspective on Sirianni’s changing role as Eagles head coach

Jason Kelce had already given Nick Sirianni a vote of confidence but on his podcast explained the qualities that make Sirianni a good candidate to be a CEO-type.

It was one thing for Jason Kelce to give Nick Sirianni a vote of confidence on locker cleanout day a few weeks ago.

But on the latest New Heights podcast, Kelce broke down Sirianni’s qualities that could help him excel in his changing role as a CEO-style head coach of the Eagles.

“Nick, and I really mean this, is one of the best coaches I’ve been around, talking about coaching situational ball, really understanding what to do in the right moment, motivating guys,” Kelce said on his podcast with brother Travis.

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“We coach things up in team meetings and hold people accountable better than pretty much any other coach I’ve been around. I think he does a lot of things. Players love him, they’ll play hard for him. I know it was a really s— year for us but I think that Nick has a lot to bring as value as the head coach and the organizational leadership that provides to the team.”

When Kelce gave Sirianni his vote of confidence in mid-January, it wasn’t known yet that Sirianni’s role was going to change. We didn’t find that out until Sirianni held a joint press conference with general Howie Roseman on Jan. 24.

It was during that press conference that Sirianni mentioned the addition of a new offensive coordinator who would “be in charge of the offense.” We have since found out that the new OC is Kellen Moore, who has held that role and called plays for the Cowboys and Chargers.

At locker cleanout day, Kelce said that Sirianni “does a lot of things structurally and organizationally that I think are really well done.” And those are the types of qualities that Kelce things could help Sirianni transition a bit away from the offense and into a more CEO-centric role.

Of course, it wasn’t surprising to hear Kelce back Sirianni after the 2023 season ended. And one of the common reactions to it was that a vote of confidence from a player who might be retiring and might not even be here in 2024 doesn’t really matter.

Perhaps that’s true.

But Kelce has been in the NFL for 13 seasons and has played under four different head coaches with varying styles. So while the vote of confidence and the fact that Kelce likes Sirianni doesn’t matter as much, the fact that Kelce has gone out of his way to express these things does. And his perspective on those qualities he sees from Sirianni seems to matter too.

“Nick has shown in his tenure with the Eagles that he’s going to do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of the Philadelphia Eagles,” Kelce said. “And he’s going to make those decisions and he doesn’t care about how other people perceive it. He doesn’t care about anything other than what’s in the best interest of the team. And, to me, I think players respect the Hell out of coaches that operate on that level and communicate things like that. He’s a very unselfish guy.”

Kelce on New Heights brought up when Sirianni gave up play-calling during his rookie season as a head coach in 2021 as a sign of the same humility he’s showing now taking a step back from the offense.

It’s still unclear if Kelce will be returning for his 14th NFL season in 2024. After the Eagles’ loss in Tampa, he reportedly told teammates about his plan to retire but hasn’t announced anything.

He still talks about the Eagles as a member of the team.

“All I know now is we have a great coach in Nick Sirianni,” Kelce said. “We just got a great defensive coordinator, defensive mind in Vic Fangio, and we’ve got a great offensive mind in Kellen Moore that just got hired. In my opinion, we’re hiring more talented individuals to continue to be a part of the staff. So whoever’s calling plays, I know that we get better having Kellen Moore in the building because I think he’s a great mind and has proven that over the last five years.”