The Eagles have their new linebackers coach and the organization didn’t have to go far to find him.
D.J. Eliot, who had been the defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach at Temple University, will jump to the professional ranks for the first time in his coaching career by making the short trip down Broad Street from North Philadelphia to South Philly.
A linebacker himself as a college player at Wyoming, Eliot, 46, had extensive DC experience in college at Kentucky (2013-16), Colorado (2017-18), and Kansas (2019-20) before arriving at Temple for the 2022 season under Sean Drayton.
New Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai started his own coaching career at Temple under Al Golden as a defensive and special teams coach.
Eliot began as a grad assistant at his alma mater before handling the same job with Houston and Miami before getting his first official job as the defensive backs coach at Texas State in 2003.
From that point forward he coached LBs at Texas State (2004-05), and Tulsa (2006). When Eliot made the leap to DC at Kentucky he continued to coach the LBs as well and the same held true at Colorado, Kansas, and Temple.
The only respite from the position for Eliot came in from 2007-09 at Rice when he coached the defensive line and 2010-12 when he mentored defensive ends at Florida State.
Eliot replaces Nick Rallis, who left Philadelphia to become the new DC in Arizona under Jonathan Gannon, Desai’s predecessor as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator in 2021-22.
Philadelphia still needs a secondary coach to replace Dennard Wilson, who left the organization after being passed over for the DC for Desai. The Eagles described the parting of ways with Wilson as mutual and a team source reiterated that to JAKIB Sports after Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that head coach Nick Sirianni made the decision to move on from Wilson.
Defensive quality control coach Joe Kasper also left to become the safeties coach with the Miami Dolphins and has yet to be replaced.
EAGLES RELEASE BRETT TOTH
The Eagles made a roster move Thursday, releasing veteran offensive lineman Brett Toth.
Toth did not play in the 2022-23 season after tearing his ACL in Week 18 of the 2021 season. A versatile player, Toth, a natural tackle, was injured while playing center.
The Eagles did eventually start Toth’s practice window late in the season but never activated the former Army Cadet due to the depth on the offensive line.
Philadelphia saves $1,035,000 in cap space by releasing Toth with the new league year set to begin on March 15.
