Now Hiring

Posted: January 15th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

The Eagles are looking for help on the field, but also on the sidelines. They have an opening at offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and cornerbacks coach. Let’s talk about the openings.

Offensive coordinator is the most notable, obviously. So what exactly are the Eagles looking for in an OC?

This is Doug Pederson’s offense. He runs the show and he calls the plays. That doesn’t mean the OC isn’t important.

While Pederson is the play-caller on gameday, the OC is the key person in building the gameplan and helping to script the opening plays. The OC helps with in-game adjustments and also suggests plays to be called.

There is also the matter of people skills. The OC works with Pederson to discuss different situations and strategies during the week. This could be scheme, personnel or something else. The OC would also work with the QB and other coaches during the week.

The Eagles can go in different directions with this hire. They could look for a veteran coach, someone like Frank Reich was in 2017. He was good with X’s and O’s, but was invaluable with his people skills. The team might prefer a young coach, someone who would bring a different background and fresh ideas to the Eagles.

Pederson could hire someone from the NFL or he could go down to the college ranks.

There is no right answer. There is no sure path. Football is all about fit. A coach can have a great resume and prove to be the wrong fit for a team. Reich was fired by the Chargers before coming to the Eagles. That fit wasn’t good, but he proved to be perfect in Philly and has done a terrific job in Indy.

There isn’t any candidate I’m enamored with. I’ll throw out a few names and some quick thoughts.

Duce Staley – No thanks. I loved Duce as a player and he has done a good job with the RBs in Philly, but I value new blood coming to the offense. If Staley had more of a diverse background, you could make a case for him. If the Eagles decide to go for him, it would be for his leadership skills and there is value in that.

Press Taylor – See above. I prefer to have an outsider join the coaching staff.

Jay Gruden – I think there is merit to this idea. Gruden has been an OC and a head coach in the NFL. That kind of experience can be helpful. He worked with a lot of good assistants who have gone on to have success. I also like his background as an Arena League player and coach. That gives you a whole other way to look at football.

John DeFilippo – I’m ambivalent on Flip. My fear is that he would come here and immediately have an eye around the league for a different job, one where he could call plays. He’s ambitious, as he should be, but you have to be careful as well. The grass isn’t always greener, so to speak.

Mike LaFleur – He is currently the passing game coordinator for SF. I’m not sure if becoming the OC for the Eagles would be considered a promotion or if he would want to leave. SF led the NFL this year in yards after catch (YAC). I feel like that has been a major weakness under Pederson and would love to have someone on the staff who could better design plays to add yards after the catch.

Todd Monken – I don’t know a lot about Monken. I love his background. He’s been an assistant in college and the pros. He was a head coach at Southern Miss and has been an OC for a pair of NFL teams. He’s worked in the Air Raid offense, various pro offenses and even old school conservative college offenses. I think there can be real value in a diverse background like that.

Joe Moorhead – Recently fired by Miss State. Joe was previously the head coach at Fordham and the OC for Penn State. He helped the Nittany Lions put up huge numbers running an aggressive, spread attack. He was just hired by Oregon to be their OC so that probably takes him off the market.

Graham Harrell – Great background. Played at Texas Tech in the Air Raid offense. Spent time in the NFL as a backup with the Packers. Was a positional assistant at Washington State and then the OC at North Texas, where they had a lot of offensive success. Harrell became the OC for the USC Trojans in 2019. Up and coming coach.

Kevin Wilson – An older OC from college. Wilson is at Ohio State now. He previously was the head coach at Indiana. He has coached OL, TEs, QBs. He’s worked at small schools. He even spent some time at the high school level. Wilson knows the spread attack well. He knows the run game and has obviously done well with the vertical passing game at OSU. Also a master at up tempo attacks.

That’s just a few names. We don’t know what the Eagles might be thinking about.

This is an important hire so I hope Pederson is thorough in his search.

*****

We haven’t heard a lot about the WR position, but Domo says the Eagles are considering former NFL receivers Hines Ward and Bobby Engram.

The big thing for me here is getting someone who has NFL experience and can be demanding. The Eagles have had too many underachievers at WR in recent years. That must stop.

I also think a key point here is to find someone who will stick around. Pederson has had a different WR coach every year he’s been here. That needs to stop.

*****

No word yet on DBs coaches.

Kris Richard would make some sense, but there is no one that I think the Eagles must go get at this point.

This is also an important hire. The Eagles need improved DB play if they are going to get back to competing for a championship.

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One Comment on “Now Hiring”

  1. 1 Iggles Blitz » Blog Archive » Coaching News said at 12:16 AM on January 18th, 2020:

    […] If you read this site, you might remember I mentioned Harrell earlier this week. […]