The Saints are set to finalize their agreement with Eagles’ OC Kellen Moore to become their new head coach
Kellen Moore’s one season spent as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator will earn him a promotion.
The New Orleans Saints are planning to finalize a deal to hire Moore as their new head coach as soon as Monday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday on NFL Gameday Morning. Rapoport added that Moore will fly back to Philadelphia with the Eagles after Super Bowl LIX before beginning the process to finalize his hiring.
Moore’s hiring will close the final head-coach opening in the NFL, as he emerges from a pool of interviewees that included Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi, who took over after Dennis Allen’s dismissal nine games into New Orleans’ 5-12 campaign in 2024.
Other candidates at one point included Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady and former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, but both withdrew from consideration.
Moore, however, is set to move forward with the Saints into his first head-coaching job.
Moore’s ascension to head coach in New Orleans caps a seven-year ladder climb from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator in Dallas, and one-year stints as OC with the Chargers and Eagles. He was considered to be a bright offensive mind in Dallas before Mike McCarthy took over play-calling and Moore left for Los Angeles in 2023, and after a rough season with the Chargers, Moore moved again to Philadelphia in 2024.
The City of Brotherly Love proved to be the ideal home for Moore, who directed an Eagles offense that finished eighth in total yards per game in the 2024 regular season, a figure buoyed by the Eagles’ second-place finish in rushing offense thanks to a legendary campaign produced by running back Saquon Barkley. At times in 2024, Philadelphia’s offense struggled, but with Barkley in their backfield as an eternally dangerous runner, the Eagles were able to win 12 of their final 13 games and ride their hot streak to an NFC Championship win and an appearance in Super Bowl LIX.
Such prominence might have exposed Moore to clubs seeking a new coach. With the Saints standing as the last to fill their vacant position, they are content to wait until after Moore’s Eagles conclude their Super Bowl run before making the partnership official.
They’ll hope Moore can breathe life into an offense that struggled mightily two years ago and only showed intermittent signs of improvement in 2024, struggling to generate consistent production, especially after losing multiple receiving weapons and quarterback Derek Carr through the course of the campaign. With Carr set to return, Moore will be expected to team up with the veteran and deliver a better showing than the Saints have had in their first two seasons with the Fresno State product.
Moore’s football life began as a high school record-setting quarterback in Washington before moving onto Boise State, where he completed a five-year career with the Broncos as the first quarterback in the Football Bowl Subdivision to win 50 games in his collegiate career. Those accolades weren’t enough to get him drafted, but he managed to carve out a six-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, primarily as a practice squad and/or backup quarterback before calling it a career and turning to coaching in 2018.
With seven years of coaching under his belt, Moore is now primed to take on the greatest responsibility of his career.
