Will Nick Sirianni Survive? Steelers’ Secret Weapon Emerging? | Emptying The Mailbag

Coaching Hot Seats, Trade Drama, and Playoff Hopes

As the NFL season heats up, the playoff picture starts to take shape, and the pressure mounts on teams and coaches alike.

In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your burning questions that we may have missed in recent weeks: Is Nick Sirianni’s job in jeopardy if the Eagles stumble in the playoffs? How will Mike Williams impact the Steelers’ offense? And what does the future hold for Tee Higgins in Cincinnati? With insights from league insiders and executives, let’s dive into what’s really happening behind the scenes across the league.

Let’s empty out the mailbag with questions from recent weeks ahead of this weekend’s action across the NFL!

If the Eagles fail in the playoffs, do they fire Nick Sirianni? (@Smayan Srikanth)

Inside the league, Nick Sirianni is one of the NFL’s most polarizing head coaches.

“His antics and sideline body language have derailed whatever positives he brings to the table or adds to a team,” an AFC executive tells me, on the condition of anonymity to speak publicly about another team.

Yet, despite his hyper-aggressive tendencies on fourth down and when it comes to two-point conversion tries, Philadelphia has won four in a row and five of six entering Sunday’s NFC East clash against the beleaguered and reeling Dallas Cowboys.

Sirianni and the Eagles face the league’s 12th-most difficult remaining schedule with opponents boasting a .512 winning percentage.

However, with two games against the Cowboys, one more against the New York Giants, and the league’s quasi-bye week game against the Carolina Panthers among them, Philadelphia is going to have opportunities to position itself as the team to beat in the NFC East.

However, the Eagles sprinted to a 10-1 start last season only to finish 11-6 with the season ending in Tampa Bay against the Buccaneers on WildCard weekend. Sirianni can’t afford history repeating itself.

“Nick’s future is completely dependent on whether the wheels fall of there, again.” a second league source suggests.

This is an Eagles team that has upgraded some of its biggest weaknesses in recent seasons; adding Saquon Barkley at running back in a transformative move for Jalen Hurts and the offense, added steady veteran linebackers and two ascending young cornerbacks which when combined with coordinators Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio as well as another year of experience for Jalen Hurts could position Philadelphia somewhere among the conference’s top-three teams.

The executive I spoke to suggests anything short of an NFC Championship Game appearance may lead to the Eagles pulling the plug and looking to upgrade this offseason.

I tend to agree with that assessment.

However, I also think that momentum, continued consistent improvement, and the Eagles showing progress in terms of results and the team’s weaknesses developing closer to strengths may prove more valuable than playoff wins. Especially in a conference that houses a juggernaut like the Detroit Lions and a lounging giant about to awaken with Christian McCaffrey’s looming return for the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday.

Do you like the Steelers’ acquisition of Mike Williams, or should they have stayed with the wide receiver room they had? (@robert K)

The Steelers really have exhausted every resource and every possibility trying to upgrade at receiver dating all the way back to the spring.

Pittsburgh finally bagged Williams at the NFL trade deadline, after missing out on the likes of Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, Aiyuk, with a trade that has the potential to significantly elevate both quarterback Russell Wilson and the offense at large.

It was wholly obvious that Williams and Aaron Rodgers never made it onto the same page this season, but in Pittsburgh the 30-year-old should have a far more substantive role opposite George Pickens than he’s had as part of the Jets’ crowded receiving room where he netted just 12 catches for 166 yards.

“The Jets’ situation is a complete clusterfuck due to Aaron Rodgers,” a veteran NFL scout tells me. “Lots of times getting to a better situation organizationally can be huge. Ask any quarterback who’s left Cleveland, I think Williams is about to experience that kind of revival.”

There are two metrics that make me think Williams is going to be one of the more pleasant surprises to the upside of the second half of this season.