NEW ORLEANS — With an interview for the New Orleans Saints head-coaching job scheduled after Super Bowl LIX, Kellen Moore could be coaching his final game with the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
It’s been an early week topic of conversation in New Orleans for most everyone involved. And by the time the Super Bowl LIX champions — either the Kansas City Chiefs or Eagles — have begun to process their triumph, Moore could be finalizing a deal to stay in the city he’d just occupied for a week.
Some Eagles players are trying to avoid considering such an outcome. On Tuesday, offensive tackle Jordan Mailata jokingly bashed his coordinator in a humorous attempt to dissuade the Saints from hiring him.
“I was just about to say, ‘Kellen Moore is a terrible coach,'” Mailata said with a smile. “You guys shouldn’t get him anyway. Like, he’s a terrible coach.
“I think he’s super prepared. The way he leads, his direction, the way he schemes, the way he interacts with his players. … Getting to know his players, giving them a voice to voice their opinions and see what they like, I think when you have that kind of relationship with the offensive coordinator, you go the extra mile for him. I think he’s definitely got the ability to be a head coach. But you guys don’t want him. I promise you guys, you just don’t want him.”
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A night earlier, tight end Dallas Goedert took a tamer approach.
“He’s done a great job leading the offense, installing the plays, bringing confidence to the offensive players,” Goedert said Monday during Super Bowl LIX Opening Night. “He’s been great for us. I don’t know everything that he does different, but the success we’ve had in the offense is very good.
“He’d be a good head coach, but I like him as my OC.”
Moore arrived in Philadelphia in 2024 after an ill-fated single season with the Chargers on former head coach Brandon Staley’s staff, joining the Eagles to give their stagnant offense a fresh perspective. The transition hasn’t been spectacular, but thanks in part to the addition of running back Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia finished with the NFL’s eighth-ranked offense and won the NFC title.
It’s precisely where the Eagles landed last season — save for the conference championship — but the surrounding circumstances couldn’t be more different. In 2023, Philadelphia started on a white-hot streak, then melted down over the final seven weeks, losing all but one game and prompting head coach Nick Sirianni to revamp his crew of coordinators after end-of-season questions about his job security.
Sirianni nailed both of his hires, convincing Moore to move east and bringing defensive coordinator Vic Fangio back to the place where his coaching career began 40 years ago. Philadelphia’s defense is playing at an elite level under Fangio, while Moore’s offense overcame earlier postseason concerns about production to throw 55 points on the board in an NFC Championship Game romp over the rival Washington Commanders.
“I think he’s brought different ideas, he’s brought a different approach,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said on Tuesday. “I think my whole vantage point has always been to learn as much as I can. I’ve had a different coordinator, a different voice, however you want to say it, almost every year of my career, so my whole approach has been to just learn as much as I can, take those things in and apply them to my game and find ways to win in the end.”
If the Eagles’ road to the Super Bowl wasn’t paved by the addition of and contributions from Barkley, it was certainly mapped by him. That’s what powered Philadelphia to its eighth-ranked finish and to multiple playoff wins. But Barkley isn’t the only player on this offense to make a difference, and Moore has played an important part in scheming a passing attack that’s good enough to prevent opponents from focusing solely on Barkley.
“Obviously both guys have meant a ton to us,” Sirianni said on Tuesday of Moore and Fangio. “You can’t be great without the greatness of others. Coaches to players, players to coaches. … Both guys have done a phenomenal job. I said this early in the year, this was during training camp and just seeing the detail that they coach with. I spent a lot of time with them, knowing the guys a little bit in the interview process and also during OTAs. I think we hit two home runs with those hires there.”
Such balance will be paramount to the Eagles’ chances against Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo on Sunday. Any thoughts existing elsewhere will have to wait — for Sirianni, Hurts, the Eagles and Moore.
“We’re focused on this game. Kellen’s focused on this game,” Sirianni said. “I’m focused on this game, not really thinking about anything else other than this game because every little bit of attention you put into something else is attention you’re not putting into what the main goal is.
“With Kellen, and I know that there’s opportunities potentially, what will happen will happen. But hopefully I’ve done my job to teach him the things that I know and help him like other coaches have helped me as far as that goes. But I know that when Kellen does get his opportunity, I think he’s highly detailed in teaching the game of football. I think that he loves this game. He works extremely hard. He’s got a great offensive mind to put our guys in positions to succeed and get better. And man, he’s a phenomenal person, great person to work with. … So got a lot of respect there for Kellen and we’ll see how that plays out at the end of the year.”