Unseld Jr. learned from Eagles’ Sirianni in the offseason originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

WASHINGTON — Wes Unseld Jr. had just completed his first year as a head coach and so had Nick Sirianni. With a connection through Wizards assistant Pat Delany’s agent, Unseld Jr. was invited as a special guest to Philadelphia Eagles training camp.

Little did he know, he would be embedded in practices for a team that would go on to reach the Super Bowl months later.

“We wanted to kind of just dive into a different space and say, well, what are they doing and are there any kinds of things we can extract? Best practices,” Unseld Jr. told NBC Sports Washington.

“Not a whole lot translates between two sports like that, but having him having gone through his first year [was relatable]. So, we kind of just linked up and spent some time.”

Unseld Jr. said the Eagles gave him and members of his staff “full access” across two days of camp. They were on the field, getting a firsthand look at how the Eagles run practices.

Unseld Jr.’s main takeaway from the experience, which he felt was translatable to the NBA, was the approach Sirianni and his staff took toward teaching their players.

“I thought they did a terrific thing as far as how they organized and how they messaged. You’ve gotta think, too. We’re messaging 15 guys, they’ve got 60, 65,” Unseld Jr. said.

“It’s different culturally, football and basketball culture, but to have the buy-in that they got from that group. It was really remarkable to see that many people and their willingness to put individual agendas aside for one ultimate goal. Now they’re one step away from that.”

Unseld Jr. is a Ravens fan, having grown up in Maryland. He played basketball at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

But with his Ravens eliminated, he has the Eagles as his Super Bowl pick. It’s nothing against the Chiefs, but after last summer he has a natural rooting interest.