Eagles have clear candidate for NFL Assistant COY (and it’s not Vic Fangio)

It’s been a wild start to the 2025 regular season for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Their offense has shown flashes of dominance, but through four games, they’re surprisingly struggling to effectively run the football. Philly tops the NFL in rushing play percentage (54.4%) — a staple throughout the Nick Sirianni era — but is averaging a brutal 3.5 yards per attempt; superstar running back Saquon Barkley has rushed the football 77 times for just 237 yards to start the season.

Philly’s defense has been solid, and should only continue to improve as Vic Fangio works to find his best combinations in the secondary. The pair of 70-plus-yard touchdowns the Eagles allowed in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were not ideal, but the defense has risen up in key situations, especially in the fourth quarter.

Eagles fans expect a lot from both of those units, but make no mistake — Philly’s special teams units have been an undeniable factor in the team’s 4-0 start, and not enough people are talking about.

Philadelphia Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay is making an early case for 2025 NFL Assistant Coach of the Year

Sirianni hired Micahel Clay as his special teams coordinator when he arrived in Philadelphia in 2021, and that decision has aged well.

The Eagles aren’t exactly known for punting and attempting field goals, but their kicking game was nearly flawless over the first month of the season. Jake Elliott has his groove back from 50-plus yards, nailing three from that distance with a long of 58; he’s 4-for-4 on his kicks and 12-for-12 on extra points to start the season.

Philly’s punting game has also been pivotal, with sixth-year pro Braden Mann serving as a secret weapon in terms of flipping field position. He’s averaging 4.75 punts per game — way up from his 3.17 from 2024 — but has come through with a career-high 52.9 average and a long of 70; he’s only booted one touchback and has landed five punts inside the opponent’s 20.

The Eagles obviously need to improve their kick and punt return game. The trade for Tank Bigsby has been a Net 0 — Philly ranks dead last in the NFL at 20.3 yards per return, at a time when kick return yardage is way up due to the league’s new kickoff rules. The punt returners haven’t moved the needle, either, ranking 26th overall with a long of just 14 yards.

Clay’s group has mitigated that damage with some spectacular plays on the punt and field goal block teams. The Eagles are averaging nearly one block per game — taking two of them to the house for touchdowns. 

The Associated Press has been naming an NFL Assistant Coach of the Year Award since 2014. No Eagles coaches have won the award yet, and each one has been either an offensive or defensive coordinator (Detroit’s Ben Johnson was the recipient in 2024).

Clay is obviously a long shot considering he coaches special teams. The play of his group has been impossible to ignore so far this season, though, and deserves major credit for propping up the team and keeping the train rolling. 

Blocking kicks for touchdowns every week is obviously not sustainable. The Eagles will need to improve drastically in the return game to rank high enough in advanced metrics to hold the attention of national football writers.

Read more: Nick Sirianni is playing with fire by sticking with laboring Eagles star

But through four games? Michael Clay has emerged as a potential darkhorse to be the first special teams coordinator to win Assistant COY.