Super Bowl: Nick Sirianni learned a lot from being fired by Andy Reid

PHOENIX — Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was once fired by Andy Reid. That adds a little more spice to this Super Bowl, but Sirianni said he appreciated how Reid let him go.

Reid was fired by the Eagles following the 2012 season and hired to be Kansas City’s head coach, replacing Romeo Crennel. Sirianni spent four seasons on KC’s offensive staff, the last as wide receivers coach, but Reid was bringing in his own guy.

He named David Culley, who had been with Reid all 14 seasons in Philadelphia, his assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. Reid showed Sirianni the door — in a manner of speaking.

“He was very good to me in the sense that he brought me in to talk to me,” Sirianni said Tuesday. “He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to bring me in to talk to me to let me go. But he did because it seems like that’s the type of person he is and that’s the type of coach he is.

“I was grateful for it. Even though you don’t like it at the time, you don’t like the fact that you’re getting let go. But when he did that and really spent a little bit of time with me — it wasn’t long but it was enough — to tell me what he’s heard about me and good luck to me and why he couldn’t keep me

Sirianni landed on his feet. He was hired by the Chargers that year and spent five seasons with them. Sirianni became the Colts offensive coordinator in 2018 and got his first head coaching job last year in Philadelphia.

When he had to fire some people left from Doug Pederson’s staff in Philadelphia, Sirianni remembered how Reid handled his dismissal.

“I was down in that moment,” Sirianni said. “He gave me strength when I was down. He tried to pick me up when I was down. That says a lot about his character and who he is so I was appreciative of that.

“Unfortunately I had to do that when I became a head coach. So even though I never worked with him, I only had that 10-minute meeting with him, you learn from everybody. I used a little bit of what he did with me when I had to do the tough part of my job of letting guys go.”