Matt Patricia is on the verge of joining the Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff.
While the hiring isn't official, head coach Nick Sirianni said Thursday that the team is "trending" toward hiring the former Detroit Lions head coach and longtime New England Patriots assistant.
"We're trending in that direction. Nothing's final yet, and we're trending in that direction," Sirianni told reporters. "We'll see how that progresses, but it's trending in that direction, yes."
Patricia was reportedly a candidate to join the Eagles staff as linebackers coach earlier this offseason before Philly hired D.J. Eliot for the job.
Patricia spent 14 years as a Patriots assistant from 2004-2017, working his way from offensive assistant to defensive coordinator. The Detroit Lions hired him as their head coach in 2018. He was fired midway through his third season in Detroit with a 13-29-1 record.
The 48-year-old rejoined the Pats in 2021 as a senior advisor. He called offensive plays for New England in 2022, an experiment that worked out poorly for Bill Belichick's club.
After the Eagles lost multiple coaches this offseason -- including defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen -- Sirianni noted that adding Patricia brings experience to the staff.
"Obviously, his résumé speaks for itself," he said. "It gives you a great mind in there that's done it at the highest level. So it gives you great ability to bounce ideas off of with the defensive staff, and then also it gives me another former head coach that I can bounce ideas off of as well with things which I think will be very helpful."
One interesting sidebar to the Patricia addition is the presence of veteran cornerback Darius Slay after the two had issues during their time together in Detroit.
Sirianni was asked if he had talked to Slay about adding Patricia.
"Of course. Like you do with anything, you go through and you talk to guys and make sure everybody's comfortable with it," he said. "I had conversations with Slay. Obviously, I had conversations with coach Patricia. I know that it'll be a good working relationship for us when that happens."
