The Philadelphia Eagles have been fairly aggressive in their pursuit of Chip Kelly’s replacement. And even though it’s not close to being official yet, I have the feeling that their search is over. When you add it all up, Doug Pederson is primed to be the next coach of the Eagles.
Start with the obvious fact that Pederson has many ties to both the area and the team, going way back into the early days of Andy Reid. Bringing Pederson back to Philadelphia would almost be like a homecoming for him and would make for a more seamless transition into a new regime.
Secondly, take into account that not only did Jeff Lurie fly to Kansas City to interview him, Lurie also brought GM Howie Roseman and team president Don Smolenski with him. I don’t think Lurie traveled for any of the other interviews he conducted, much less brought his two biggest executives with him. That alone speaks volumes.
Then, and perhaps the most telling point, is the fact that as of today the Eagles don’t have any more interviews lined up. They came firing out of the gate lining up coaching interviews. For them to stop all of a sudden to me means they’ve made a decision. But then why not announce it? Probably because they can’t, because their candidate is still in the playoffs, getting ready for their trip to Foxborough. It all adds up to a let’s-wait-for-Pederson-to-free-up situation.
Not only would I bet that Pederson is the guy Lurie has lined up, I’ll also bet that the response to that hiring won’t be very enthusiastic. Pederson wouldn’t be a sexy hire by any stretch of the imagination, because let’s be honest, Kansas City’s offense is boring. They’re not very explosive, Alex Smith puts up mediocre numbers, and on the whole you’d probably have a better time doing yard work.
But if Pederson does wind up being the next coach of the Eagles, remember two things. First, if he seems underwhelming remember that there’s really no “sexy” hire out there for the Eagles to get. The closest to that was Adam Gase, and he’s no longer available. No one else is really jumping out to the front of the pack.
Secondly, Pederson couldn’t make this offense boring if he tried. There’s just too much explosive potential on this team for Pederson to pull the reins in on it. It’s easy for him to be boring in Kansas City, because there he has to. The Eagles would be a whole different story.
At this point, I guess the Eagles could do worse. I mean, Kansas City is good enough to be this far in the playoffs and the Eagles aren’t, so what’s the harm in trying their way? Who knows, maybe Pederson is exactly what this team needs. With the way things are looking, that’s exactly what they’re bound to get.
