Ryan Mahaffey's 'Law:' How Ascending Eagles Assistant Will Handle High Expectations
PHILADELPHIA - In the spring of 2013, Ryan Mahaffey was back at his alma mater, Northern Iowa, preparing for his next stage in life when he heard a familiar voice ring out while walking across the university's athletic track.
It was his former coach at the traditional FCS powerhouse, Mark Farley.
"[He] hollered at me from across the way. You never forget your coach's voice," the Eagles new run game coordinator/tight ends coach said earlier this week. "So I heard him, and I walked over there, and he told me, ‘Yeah, I think you should try [coaching" out.'
"And he was right."
Mahaffey's fledgling NFL career as a fullback had sputtered out after attempts to break through with Baltimore, Indianapolis, and Miami over the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
The next step for the cerebral Iowa native was law school.
"At first, I got cut and I thought I was going to go to law school," said Mahaffey. "I took my LSAT. I was thinking that I was going to go to law school."
That's where Farley stepped in, asking his former player if he wanted to help in the spring.
"I was like, ‘Yeah, I love the University of Northern Iowa, and I get to be around the coaching staff?' I was like, ‘Oh, for a little bit.' I got done in the spring, and he offered me a full-time job," Mahaffey said. "I thought to myself, ‘Well, my LSAT is good for five years.' If I wanted to go back, I could go back.
"But after I started doing it, I realized pretty quickly that this is ultimately what I love to do."
A potential future in child advocacy turned into multiple stints at Northern Iowa as a tight ends coach, co-offensive coordinator, and receivers coach, before landing the full-blown OC position in 2019-2020.
The NFL came calling after that in the form of Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers.
LaFleur tabbed Mahaffey, 38, for an entry-level quality control role in 2021, and the Packers' head coach liked the vesatility Mahaffey brought to the table, first promoting him to assistant offensive line coach (2022-2023) before moving Mahaffey to wide receivers coach (2024-2025), where he helped tutor new Eagles' wideout Dontayvion Wicks.
"I'm very grateful for some of the past coaches I've worked with, particularly Matt LaFleur," Mahaffey said. "The opportunity that he gave me in the NFL. Some of the positions that he put me in, just to kind of get a cross-section and get a background, with kind of different position groups."
Right-Hand Man
In Philadelphia, Mahaffey is serving a dual role as run game coordinator and tight ends coach under first-year coordinator Sean Mannion, who he got to know over the past two seasons in Green Bay.
The expectations are enormous. As RGC, Mahaffey is replacing franchise legend Jeff Stoutland, who held that role since adding it after the franchise's Super Bowl LII win after the 2017 season. The tight ends have been led capably by veteran coach Jason Michael, a Dallas Goedert favorite since 2021.
"For me, stepping into, here in Philadelphia, I've been drawing on some of the experiences that I've had in the past," said Mahaffey. "I've had a lot of guys pour into me. I've had some great examples to be around, some really good coaches and players, [to] see their process, see the daily habits that they put into their craft.
"And it's just been fun to try to go put some of those things into application, and thankful for the examples I've had in the past, as I'm starting to move forward here."
Mahaffey's coaching exposure to every position group that contributes to a well-rounded running attack has given the coach a wide-angle lens of the complete picture of the ground game.
"I think just generally speaking, the more exposure you have, the different ways of doing things, I think that can help you," Mahaffey said. "You never know exactly how things are going to manifest themselves during the season.
"You're stepping into different position groups with different personalities. And I think anytime you have time on task and you've been presented with different challenges, it kind of just gives you a context of what you're stepping into and kind of gives you an opportunity to see things from a different light."
The Eagles are expected to shift from a power-based inside-zone heavy running team to the Shanahan stretch-running attack that has been so successful over the years.
Mahaffey could have to lobby the veterans who've had success in the old system to embrace the new one.
"I think it's early right now," he said when asked about that potential hurdle. "... It's been fun just to be able to have football conversations. I think right now, it's an ever-changing, ever-growing set of circumstances. So, I think our emphasis has been to have something in place where we can put our guys in positions to go out there and have success.
"And really, for Coach [Nick] Sirianni, the point of OTAs has been to be able to come together as a team a little bit more, and just kind of work on our skill acquisition, working on our fundamentals and those kinds of things. So, it's early on. I think some of that is kind of happening organically as we're moving along."
The tight end part of Mahaffey's job description is more straightforward, leading a room where veterans Goedert and Grant Calcaterra have been augmented with one of the league's better blocking tight ends in Johnny Mundt, as well as gifted second-round pick Eli Stowers.
"They're a lot of fun to work with, first and foremost," Mahaffey said of a group that also included Cam Latu, Stone Smartt, E.J. Jenkins and undrafted rookie Dae'Quan Wright. "They're a joy to be around. They come in every single day. They care about each other. They work hard.
"Obviously, Coach Sirianni's set a great stage, and the organization, in terms of the culture here, you see that they love football. They want to go out there. They want to work at it and be better each and every single day."
The ultimate goal for Mahaffey is to pay his good fortune forward.
"I have just been very blessed in my career where I've had people kind of guide me or pointed me in the right direction," hey said. "I've been lucky to have the support. I think that's kind of echoed throughout my career where I've had the right people around me who have pointed me in the right direction and helped me get to where I'm at today."
Now it's Mahaffey pointing others in the right direction.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/eagles/onsi as Ryan Mahaffey's 'Law:' How Ascending Eagles Assistant Will Handle High Expectations.
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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 2:00 PM.