5 things you should know about new Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon

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The Eagles have a new defensive coordinator, and he's got an interesting background.

As soon as the Eagles agreed to hire Nick Sirianni as head coach, Jonathan Gannon's name emerged as his likely defensive coordinator.

Gannon spent the last few years with Sirianni in Indianapolis on Frank Reich's staff, and this will be his first job as a defensive coordinator.

Here are five things you should know about Gannon:

CAREER-ENDING INJURY: Gannon played high school football at St. Ignatius in Cleveland, rival of Jason Kelce's alma mater, Cleveland Heights. He went to Louisville to play football but as a freshman in 2002 suffered a severe hip injury. He rehabbed but during spring workouts in 2004, when he realized he could no longer be the player he wanted to be, he decided to go into coaching. Louisville coach Bobby Petrino hired him as a student assistant and then a graduate assistant.

TIES TO A HALL OF FAMER: The first NFL secondary coach Gannon worked under was Hall of Famer Emmitt Thomas, the former Eagles defensive coordinator. Thomas, who had 58 interceptions in a 13-year career with the Chiefs, was Ray Rhodes’ defensive coordinator with the Eagles from 1995 through 1998 and after stints with the Packers and Vikings spent eight years as the Falcons’ secondary coach. When Petrino became the Falcons’ head coach in 2007, he kept Thomas and hired Gannon as a defensive quality control coach.

HE'S WELL-ROUNDED: Gannon has also been involved in the scouting side of the NFL. From 2009 through 2011, he was a scout with the Rams working under general manager Billy Devaney, who had been with the Falcons when Gannon was coaching there.

HE MIGHT RECOGNIZE THE LINC: Gannon was on Mike Zimmer’s Vikings staff from 2014 through 2017, so he was on the visiting sideline as assistant defensive backs coach three years ago when the Eagles beat the Vikings 38-7 in the NFC Championship Game. Also on that staff was current Browns coach Kevin Stefanski.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO RHODES: While he was in Minnesota, Gannon worked with three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who was released by the Vikings after the 2019 season. Rhodes signed with the Colts, where he was reunited with Gannon and had a bounce-back season this past year. According to the Indianapolis Star, Colts General Manager Chris Ballard credited Gannon for Rhodes’ development: “Xavier had a heck of a year (and) really bought into what we are doing. I give Jonathan Gannon a lot of credit for that. He had a relationship with Xavier from Minnesota. Xavier worked and bought into everything we’re doing.” For the record, Rhodes is a free agent.

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