The Philadelphia Eagles have reportedly reached an agreementto make Kansas City’s offensive coordinator Doug Pederson their next head coach.
Advertisement
The hiring can’t be announced until the season concludes for the Chiefs, who are in the midst of a playoff run and will face the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs on Saturday in Foxborough, MA.
Kansas City Chief OC Doug Pederson has accepted an offer from the Philadelphia Eagles to become their next HC. He’ll replace Chip Kelly, who was sacked ahead of th Eagles’ final game in a disappointing 7-9 season.
The Eagles’ hiring of Pederson completes an about-face of sorts, given that he is a protege of Andy Reid, whom the team fired before bringing Kelly aboard for three seasons. Kelly was 10-6 in his first two seasons.
Other members of Reid’s offensive staff have also called plays, including spread-game analyst/special projects coach Brad Childress, who called plays for Reid in Philadelphia from 2003-05 before he became head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Much of his success on the sideline can be attributed to Andy Reid, the winningest coach in Eagles history.
Pederson, 47, interviewed on Sunday in Kansas City.
Childress, who was Pederson’s position coach in 1999, reunited with Reid and Pederson when he was hired to be the Chiefs’ spread game analyst in 2013. And it appears that the Eagles will need that even more so than when the day began, since the San Francisco 49ers hired Kelly. In relief, Pederson helped the Miami Dolphins capture Don Shula’s record 325th coaching win in 1993.
“Given that Schefter reported three years ago that Kelly had signed a five-year, $32.5 million deal to coach the Eagles, Lurie has avoided millions in buyout obligation to Kelly”. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and running backs coach Duce Staley were interviewed at the start of the New Year, while Tom Coughlin and Ben McAdoo, formerly and presently of the New York Giants, respectively, were interviewed soon thereafter.
“Philly’s getting a good one, man”, said wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, a former Eagles Pro Bowl player. Chiefs assistant and former Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress has been linked to Philadelphia.
Advertisement
Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer paints a picture of a search that saw the Eagles only pick Pederson after their first three candidates didn’t agree to take the job, with vice president of player personnel Howie Roseman not helping to improve the outlook of the job. The unemployed Jim Schwartz has apparently talked with the Eagles about the team’s defensive coordinator job.
