Indian American Coach Sean Desai Joins Los Angeles Rams in a Senior Defensive Role

The Los Angeles Rams have hired former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai in a senior defensive role. The 40-year-old Indian American, who was in his second season as a defensive coordinator for the Eagles, was fired last month by head coach Nick Sirianni, after his play-calling duties stripped amidst the team’s losing streak in mid-December.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported at the time that “Desai’s criticism had been mounting after the Bills racked up 505 yards on Nov. 26, although the Eagles won that game 37-34 in overtime. That was followed by “two straight lopsided defeats, 42-19 to San Francisco and the loss to the Cowboys,” the report added. After that defeat, the personal relationship between Desai and head coach Nick Srinani suffered “a setback,” the report said, noting that the two “had a vast difference in terms of running the team.”It mentioned how “Sirianni wanted more collaboration and communication between Desai and his staff, and conveyed to him the “need to be more open to other viewpoints.” 

Desai was named the Eagles’ defensive coordinator last March. He replaced Jonathan Gannon, who left to become head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. According to the Bleacher Report, he was “a popular target” for defense coordinator in the 2023 hiring cycle. He interviewed with with five different clubs, and “ultimately chose the Eagles,” the report added. 

He joined the Birds after spending eight seasons as a defensive assistant with the Chicago Bears before he was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2021, making him the first Indian American coordinator in NFL history. But he was fired as part of the ouster of former coach Matt Nagy. He spent the 2022 season as an associate head coach and defensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks under Pete Carroll.

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Before joining the Bears, he was the running backs coach/special teams coordinator at Boston College. In the 2012 season, Desai also coached Boston College running back Andre Williams, who won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back a year later.

Prior to that, he was the assistant director of football operations at the University of Miami in 2011 after spending five seasons at Temple (2006-10) as a defensive and special teams coach. At Temple, he also served as an adjunct professor in 2009 and 2010, teaching in the master’s and doctoral programs in education administration. He earned the nickname “Doc,” because of his doctorate in educational administration, with an emphasis on higher education. In 2011, he joined the University of Miami as the assistant director of football operations.