Gannon Gate: Former Eagles defensive coordinator continues to lie about tampering violations

If former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon wasn’t already public enemy No. 1 following his horrendous performance in Super Bowl 57, the tampering charges filed against him and the Arizona Cardinals will certainly place him atop the hate totem pole.
Minutes before the NFL Draft got underway last Thursday, we learned that the Eagles and Cardinals settled a tampering violation involving Gannon’s hiring as Arizona’s next head coach. It was the classic news bomb that should’ve caused a media stir, but nobody cared because the NFL didn’t tell anyone until moments before the draft started.
If you think it’s just a coincidence that this news dropped right before the draft, you’re kidding yourself. The league didn’t and doesn’t want anyone talking about it, and it’s clear that Gannon himself wants to avoid it at all costs.
Here’s the quick rundown on what was alleged against the former Eagles DC and the Cardinals:
- Arizona GM Monti Ossenfort called Gannon following the NFC Championship Game
- Ossenfort asked Gannon during the call if he wanted to interview for Arizona’s HC position, Gannon said yes
- Gannon originally claimed he had no idea he was interviewing for the position until Howie Roseman told him after Super Bowl 57
- Gannon stayed in AZ for the interview and never left, agreeing to be the next Cardinals head coach two days after the Super Bowl
So, we get word of the tampering violation, Eagles and Cardinals settle it via draft trade, and then fans were expecting to hear from Gannon during the draft. Every single head coach and general manager speaks to the media during draft weekend. Nick Sirianni and Roseman held press conferences after each night of the draft festivities. Gannon, for obvious reasons, was the only coach in the league who didn’t speak with media during draft weekend.
On Tuesday, we finally heard from Gannon during his team’s post-draft presser. When asked about the tampering charges, Gannon had this to say.

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“It was a mistake that we made,” Gannon told reporters. “The league rectified it and we’ve moved on. Basically, after the NFC Championship Game, Monti reached out and kind of said, ‘congratulations.’ He’s been to a few Super Bowls so he gave me advice on how to handle that. And he said, ‘we’re in the middle of a coaching search and don’t know how the timing of this is all going to shake out. Would you be interested in interviewing if it gets pushed back until after the Super Bowl?’ And I said, ‘yeah, I would be.'”
Gannon’s reputation as the Eagles DC was always going to be tarnished because of what we saw his defense do (or fail to do, rather) in the Super Bowl.
I didn’t hate the guy because of that. I hate him because he’s a rat liar.
We know he lied about the hiring process already. Here’s how Gannon described the hiring process during his introductory press conference with Arizona.
“Howie approached me on Sunday night after [Super Bowl 57] and said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna stay here. You’re not flying back with us. You’re gonna interview for this job. And that’s when I clicked that mindset in and said, ‘OK, well, let me probably, you know, stop — gotta pick up my bootstraps a little bit, because I was down obviously a little bit about the game and, you know, take a shower, work out, and come in and, you know, shoot your gun. So, that’s what I did.”
Lie No. 1 – acting like he had no idea he was getting an interview with the Cardinals when he set it up himself a week prior.
His response quoted above came after a reporter reminded Gannon of what he told the Eagles media after the NFCCG win over San Francisco.
Gannon just wanted to be the Eagles DC forever!
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According to Gannon, he had no idea Arizona was interested in hiring him at this point in time. Maybe I’d give him the benefit of the doubt if he only got caught lying once – we all fib here and there. But it wasn’t just once.
A little over a week ago, Gannon spoke to the Cardinals media after they unveiled their new uniforms for this season. There, he decided to smear the Eagles media by making up claims that they blatantly told him they wanted him fired.
“Philly is a very hard media market,” Gannon said. “We were 9–0 and I did my presser and they say, Coach, we want you fired. And I said, ‘We’re the No. 1 defense in the NFL right now, in every statistical category. Why do you want me fired?’ ‘You don’t blitz enough.’ I said, ‘Well we lead the league in sacks by 30-plus sacks, so if you want to come call the defense, then you can have at it.'”
Again, all lies. The Eagles media never once told him they wanted him fired because he didn’t blitz enough. Fans may have wanted him fired because he didn’t blitz enough, but it wasn’t the local pundits. Then we have the whole thing about how his defense led the league in sacks by 30 and that the Eagles were 9-0. Both of which are untrue and were probably just harmless exaggerations by the former DC. Nevertheless, it shows how willing he is to just toss out false information.
That’s the part that really irks me here. Gannon will just say whatever if it gets him in favor with whoever he’s associating with at the time. All the bullshit he said about staying in Philly as long as we’ll have him, it was all fluff. He just wanted us to like him.
He’s continuing to do it in Arizona, too. Whatever people want to hear, he’ll say it. The guy is a weasel, a rat, a liar, and above all else, a shitty defensive coordinator and, probably, an even worse head coach.