These are moments that you never forget. This is what you’re playing and working so hard for.”
Inside the defensive meeting room at the NovaCare Complex, a no-frills space with leather chairs, a film projector and wall screen, Vic Fangio is working his magic. He is showing his players what it looks like when the Philadelphia Eagles defense lines up in a certain alignment and how he anticipates the opposing offenses will react.
These are generally tedious meetings that can last for a couple of hours and, understanding the audience, teams have various ways to keep the audience attentive – some teams give players breaks to look at their cell phones, some teams bring candy to the room to keep players chomping on something. All are very aware that a 25-year-old’s brain can wander off very quickly.
“Man, when you’re in a room with Vic you just are so interested in what he’s going to say,” edge player Nolan Smith, Jr. says. “I love studying and I love learning, and I think he’s a mastermind. He sees things before they happen. We walk out of the room kind of thinking, ‘How did he know that was going to happen?’”
“The guy is a mastermind, I’m telling you.”
Therein lies the genius of Vic Fangio, in his 39th season of coaching, first at the high school level and then as a graduate assistant at the University of North Carolina and then as an entry-level defensive assistant with the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars. He helped the Stars win back-to-back USFL Championships.
Fangio entered the NFL with the New Orleans Saints in 1986 and stayed there through 1994 and, thus, his legacy began. He is a lifer, a constantly innovating defensive coach who has had one stint – from 2019-2021 with Denver – as a head coach. The rest? All defense, in a bunch of cities and a host of circumstances.
“I guess I’ve been around for a while,” he says, laughing. “I just try to be where my feet are, focus on the people around me and not think about the time I’ve spent with different teams. I’ve been around a lot of great coaches and a lot of great players.”
“And let me tell you – without them, I wouldn’t be here. You can’t have success by yourself.”
“Here” is with the Eagles in his second season. Year 1 was an amazing success – Fangio led the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense – the youngest defense in the league, by the way – to a win in Super Bowl LIX and his defense shut the door and threw away the key on quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles recorded three takeaways – one an interception that defensive back Cooper DeJean returned for a touchdown – and had six sacks against Mahomes and shut out the Chiefs until the third quarter, by which time the Eagles had a huge lead.
It was a most glorious day and as Fangio stood on the field at Caesar’s Superdome on that February night with confetti raining down on him, he reveled in the feeling.
“These are moments,” he says, “that you never forget. This is what you’re playing and working so hard for.”
What makes Fangio different from other defensive coaches? Is it his approach? The way he sees things? The in-game changes? How he relates to his players?
In a lot of ways, it’s all of the above and so much more. He is known as a bit of a curmudgeon, but the fact is Fangio is just a straight-forward guy who demands precision and preaches the fundamentals. He believes in pushing his players and that can be a challenge in the world of today where, Fangio says, “People are not expecting as much out of players as we used to expect. These players will work and give you everything they’ve got, within reason.”
It is an approach that sometimes, at least one time, has left residual reactions. After leaving Miami following the 2023 season, Fangio heard reports about how he didn’t relate to young players and how the Dolphins didn’t adapt to his way of teaching and coaching.
“I didn’t see that,” Fangio says.
And that’s all he says. He is onto the business of the Philadelphia Eagles and trying to make this 2025 defense as good as it can be.
“I’m ready for him to hang it up,” says Mike LaFleur, the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. “He’s a stud. I said it last year. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it’s no disrespect to anyone else we’ve gone against, but he’s the most consistent. His defenses are always the best or one of the best. He evolves with the times. It feels like he’s always one step ahead of most offenses.”
Practice is finished for the day and as the Eagles get set for the their next game, linebacker Nakobe Dean is talking about Fangio and how he integrated himself with the Eagles in 2024, and how he has evolved since then.
And Dean is gushing. Always smiling. In reverence of the man.
“He didn’t have to sell himself to us. Not one bit. He’s been in the NFL longer than we’ve been alive, so what does he have to sell to us? He just comes in, and we all know that he’s here to make us better players and a better team,” Dean says. “I remember last year we were all sitting around talking about Vic and we had this four-game streak where he would call a coverage, and he called it right every single time. Every time. He knew what was coming. We knew he was real. But when we saw that, it was real real.”
Linebacker Zack Baun was a role player in New Orleans and he signed in Philadelphia as a free agent prior to the 2024 season and had a season for the ages: He became a starter. He became a star. He was voted to the Pro Bowl Games. He was an All-Pro player and was named a finalist for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
And then in the offseason Baun signed a three-year contract with the Eagles worth a reported $51 million.
“I owe so much to the man,” Baun says. “He saw something in me and gave me the chance to prove I could be a great player in this league. He identified my strengths and then gave me a chance to go out and play to those strengths. Not all coaches do that. In fact, a lot don’t. They have a system, and they want you to fit into that system instead of tweaking something and letting you play your game.”
The other side of this is the fun part, when players have some laughs with Fangio. They will try to imitate his gruff voice, his stern nature and the one-liners he delivers. He’s an old-school coach, but he gets the importance of chemistry and camaraderie.
“I’ve been working on my ‘Vic’ voice for a long time, and I think I have it down pretty good,” defensive tackle Jordan Davis says. “I get real gravelly and serious, and then I start laughing. I can’t help myself. Vic is a coach that we love. I mean, we love him. He sees things we don’t see. He puts us in the right places to play our best.
“That’s what you want in a coach, right? He’s there for us, and we’re here for him. Always, man. I love the guy.”
Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro has covered every Eagles game since 1987 and is seen and heard throughout the year on television, radio and Eagles coverage everywhere. You can hear his Eagles Live Podcast on iTunes.
