The Arizona Cardinals have hired Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as their next head coach. It's a move that hasn't earned a lot of positive press, largely because of how small the Eagles defense came up in the Super Bowl. What have you done for me lately?

I went into this thinking I'd be championing Gannon for how well his defense played during the season. And it was great. But Gannon was Philadelphia's defensive coordinator for two seasons, and it was a decidedly hit-or-miss tenure. Great as Philly's defense was in 2022, it was equally lousy under Gannon in 2o21.

In 2022, the Eagles ranked in the top 10 in all the key defensive fantasy categories: fumble recoveries (10th), interceptions (4th), sacks (1st) and total takeaways (4th) -- top 5 in almost all of them. They had the No. 3 fantasy defense in a scoring system that awarded 1 point for sacks and 2 for takeaways.

But just a year earlier, the Eagles ranked 20th or worse in all of those categories. They had the 21st-ranked fantasy defense in that same scoring system.

EAGLES DEFENSE, 2021-2022
YearFRRkIntRkSkRkTkRkFFRk
2021431st1220th2931st1626th5.421st
20221010th174th701st274th8.03rd

Proponents of Gannon will argue how much improved his defense was from one year to the next, which is fair. But they were both his defenses, so we're talking about a pretty short track record of success.

The Cardinals have had a pretty good defense (fantasy terms) the last two years, finishing 9th and 10th in that same scoring system. But it looks kind of flukey, with their one standout total finishing 1st in fumble recoveries in 2021. They were roughly average or a little worse in sacks both years (41 and 36), and also interceptions (11 and 13).

Seems like Arizona's defense could go either way with Gannon running things. They'll hope they get something close to how Philadelphia performed in 2022 (Super Bowl notwithstanding). If it's more like 2021, they'll be disappointed.

--Andy Richardson