After a report emerged that Eagles consultant Vic Fangio was poised to become the defensive coordinator in Miami, questions emerged as to whether he’d succeed Jonathan Gannon in Philly, if/when Gannon left.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the tampering shenanigans involving the Cardinals and Gannon resulted in Fangio not sticking around.
“The interesting part about it would be this, I think it impacted a lot of peoples’ lives,” Schefter said in an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic. “Vic Fangio, for example, probably would not have taken the Dolphins defensive coordinator job and would be the defensive coordinator in Philadelphia today if everything was on the up and up. And so it didn’t just impact the Cardinals and their job with Jonathan Gannon, it impacted others as well. . . . So I think that are certain people that might not be pleased with the way everything went down.”
Schefter didn’t elaborate on the connection between the Gannon tampering and Fangio moving on. Apparently the Eagles didn’t realize Gannon would be leaving before the door closed on keeping Fangio around.
While Schefter tiptoed around saying it, he seems to think this thing was a bigger mess than we’ve all been led to believe.
“I think everybody knows, in any line of work, if they’re on an expiring contract or they’re under consideration, they still have responsibilities to their employer to finish the job the right way,” Schefter said. “In this particular case, I just think the Eagles weren’t comfortable with the information that they learned and Jeffrey [Lurie] brought it up to Michael Bidwill, and this is where the organizations wound up.”
The problem is that the entire ordeal ended up being swept under the rug, with the goal of minimizing any attention paid to the situation, in the hopes that no one will fully explore the rabbit hole. As the NFL often does in such situations, the goal is to plug it with cement and move on.