Rewind back to the 2021 and 2022 seasons when Jonathan Gannon was the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles. Gannon had done some impressive things in that role, with the Eagles allowing the second-fewest overall yards in that 2022 season.
The Eagles’ efforts that year were good enough on both sides of the ball that the team reached Super Bowl LVII where, as we know, they fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in a classic shootout. It didn’t matter that Gannon’s unit had thrived for the majority of the season because, on the biggest stage and under the brightest of lights, he folded like a cheap lawn chair.
Eagles fans weren’t too bummed when Gannon was poached away in the offseason, as the Arizona Cardinals hired him as their next head coach. They have Gannon leaving to thank for the team bringing in Vic Fangio, who has been a huge breath of fresh air for this defense and who, when his team was back in the Super Bowl two years later, didn’t blink.
Meanwhile, Gannon has not been living up to the expectations placed on him by Cardinals fans. In three years on the job in the desert, Gannon has an underwhelming record of 15-28 and with a 3-6 record on the year right now, it’s no wonder his seat is getting warmer by the week.
Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports put Gannon second on his list of head coaches whose seats are the hottest. Vacchiano pointed out how Gannon’s had to deal with the uncertainty surrounding Kyler Murray but that might not be enough to save his job.
“His situation is certainly complicated by the Cardinals’ quarterback mess. They are financially committed to the deteriorating Kyler Murray, at least through the end of next season, though they clearly want to move on. It’s hard to tell whether that helps or hurts him. It’s a built-in excuse for his poor record (15-28 in two-plus seasons, including 3-6 this year), but the Cardinals also might want to start fresh next season with a new, young quarterback and a more offensive-minded head coach. The fact that his defense has consistently ranked in the bottom 10 of the league since he arrived certainly hasn’t helped his case to stay.”
To see Gannon struggling and likely at the end of his leash in Arizona is definitely something that will have Eagles fans applauding. Fans haven’t been fond of Gannon after he accepted the Cardinals head coaching job because they feel the interview prepping and then eventually taking the job distracted him from focusing on the task at hand, which was beating the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
While Super Bowl teams will always run the risk of losing a coordinator or two (for the Eagles, they lost both coordinators that offseason, as Indianapolis hired Shane Steichen), there’s a right way and a wrong way to handle accepting a new job. You need to do so while still respecting that your current employer and team have a job to do, and Gannon didn’t do that.
Surely, Gannon will get a chance to be a defensive coordinator somewhere else when the Cardinals pull the plug on his head coaching tenure. When he does, Eagles fans will continue to root against him.
The Dallas Cowboys, losers of two in a row and three of their last four, have a golden opportunity to right the ship coming out of their bye week when they take on one of the most disappointing teams of 2025, the 2-7 Las Vegas Raiders, in a Monday Night Football matchup.
But the Cowboys are taking no chances, at least with their offensive line depth, after losing a practice squad lineman on Tuesday when former Washington Commanders third round draft pick Geron Christian was given a shot at an active roster spot as the Denver Broncos swooped in and signed him away.
With the 6-foot-5, 302-pound offensive tackle now departed, the Cowboys wasted no time in replacing him with another massive lineman who plays the same tackle position. On Wednesday, Dallas signed 6-foot-4, 307-pound lineman Marcellus Johnson to their practice squad, according to the team’s transaction report.
The Cowboys’ offensive line has not been at the root of the team’s problems, but at 3-5-1 and hopes of returning to the postseason after missing out last year rapidly dwindling, Dallas cannot afford to spring any new leaks. Quarterback Dak Prescott has benefited from the third-lowest sack percentage in the NFL (4.2), going down behind the line of scrimmage just 15 times in nine games, the seventh-lowest total in the league.
Though his offensive line has largely managed to protect him from sacks, Prescott has nonetheless found himself under pressure more than he, or the Cowboys, would like. His average time-to-throw of 2.6 seconds ranks him only 19th in the NFL, among quarterbacks who have taken at least 100 snaps this season.
It would probably take a series of injuries to allow Johnson to take his turn on the active roster protecting Prescott. The difference between the 2024 undrafted free agent and his predecessor Christian is pronounced.
Where Christian has appeared in 63 NFL games, starting 25 for six different teams over seven seasons, Johnson has yet to be on the field for a single snap in game that counts. Since signing a $2.85 million, three-year contract with the New York Giants in 2024 — a contract that was terminated almost immediately in favor of a $225,000 practice squad deal — Johnson has bounced around between the practice squads of the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts for two seasons.
When the Giants signed Johnson initially, they guaranteed $170,000 of his contract, the most they gave any UDFA in their 2024 class.
The Colts released Johnson from their practice squad on October 14, and he remained without a football home for almost a month before the Cowboys signed him on Wednesday.
At the time of the 2024 draft, one NFL insider said that he had rated Johnson as “a legitimate NFL player,” and graded him “almost as high” as his former Eastern Michigan teammate, Sidy Sow.
Sow, a 6-foot-5, 318-pound offensive lineman was drafted in 2023, in the third round, by the New England Patriots. The Patriots released Sow in August, and the 27-year-old lineman was subsequently signed to the Houston Texans‘ practice squad. The Texans elevated Sow to their active roster on November 8.