Eagles Head Coaching Search Thursday Update

THIS WILL BE UPDATED DAILY AS NEWS COMES IN. SCROLL DOWN FOR THE LATEST! OR SIMPLY READ IT ALL FOR A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Get ready for these, because until they hire a head coach there are going to be quite a few names thrown out there attached to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles fired former head coach Doug Pederson on Monday and theyre now looking for their next head coach. The Eagles join the Chargers, Jets, Jaguars, Texans, Lions, and Falcons. Many of these teams have already begun the interview process so the Eagles are playing behind the 8 ball.

The first request the Eagles put in was for 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. This was according to Adam Schefter (who you can hear every Wednesday on the John Kincade show at 8:10am). The Eagles will have competition for Saleh, who has emerged as a finalist for the Jets head coaching job. Saleh is the first candidate for the Jets job who is receiving a second interview.

Dan Graziano from ESPN reported that the Eagles requested permission to interview Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Smith did wonders with Ryan Tannehill and might be the perfect person to fix Carson Wentz. But just like with Saleh, the Eagles are going to be playing catchup with Smith. He has already interviewed with both the Jets and the Lions.

Sal Paolantonio from ESPN reported that the Eagles will look to bring in Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles for an interview. Bowles is a local product who would be in his second stint with the Eagles having previously served as the interim defensive coordinator in 2012.

Bowles is a Temple product and a former head coach Jets. The Falcons have interviewed Bowles already but he might be more inclined to come home.

The latest request dropped at 6am on Wednesday per the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Jerod Mayo is a former first round pick, and two time Pro-Bowler who played his entire career with the Patriots. He joined the Patriots coaching staff upon his retirement in 2019 and since then has made a name for himself having impressed in a short amount of time. I Compared him to defensive Mike Kafka.

Oh, and what about Kafka?

It would make perfect sense for Jeffrey Lurie to go back to his friend (Andy Reid) and pluck another coach from the tree. Kafka was a former Eagles quarterback and a smart guy, having attended North Western. It seems like just a matter of time before Kafka is running a team of his own…so why no interview yet? Because they cant.

Would the Eagles go back to the college ranks? Its worked in the past (Dick Vermeil) and also been an absolute disaster more recently when the franchise tried it (Chip Kelly). What about Jalen Hurts’ former coach Lincoln Riley? Sal Pal says that from what he is hearing Riley is happy at Oklahoma. Take that with a grain of salt though. Chip Kelly was happy at Oregon….until he wasnt. Possible that Riley truly is happy at OU. Also possible this is a ploy to see how badly the Eagles want him. Up the offer and the power hed be given to run his first franchise.

And the latest news comes from John Clark about the National Championship runner up.

This would be Day’s second stint in Philadelphia, having previously served as Temple’s wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator in the prestigious “Run Run Pass Punt” offense during the Steve Addazio era. (Temple later hired Matt Rhule and that worked out for them. But this is about the Eagles so I’ll move on). He was also the Eagles quarterbacks coach.

And last years “Boy Wonder” Joe Brady has already interviewed according to Ian Rapoport. Brady, whos 31 and the same age as me and makes me feel like a complete and utter failure, was hired by Matt Rhule to be the offensive coordinator for the Panthers after winning a national championship with LSU. Much like Kafka, this seems like a matter of “when and where” and not “if” Brady becomes a head coach.

THURSDAY UPDATE:

the Jacksonville Jaguars are zeroing in on Urban Myer. This isnt surprising, and Myer was never a candidate for the Eagles job, but with the Jaguars off the board that leaves just six jobs out there. Less jobs could help lower a candidates asking price. Not that fans really care about that, we as fans just want the right candidate.

Robert Saleh left his interview with the Jets without a deal. He then met with the Eagles down in Florida. Saleh seems to be a hot coaching candidate and it seems like its just a matter of where he goes, not if he gets a job.

and finally here’s a spicy meatball down in Dallas

Moore recently turned down the Boise State job. Moore stared at Boise and then spent a few years in the NFL as a backup before getting into coaching.

Unfortunately you can cross a potential Eagles target off the list, as late Thursday night the Jets announced theyve agreed to terms with Robert Saleh to be their next head coach. With the Jets and Jags jobs off the board that leaves five openings. the Eagles, Falcons, Chargers, Texans and Lions.

FRIDAY UPDATE:

Yesterday Robert Saleh took the Jets job and today the Falcons agreed with Arthur Smith on the teams head coaching vacancy. But that isnt the only team that appears to have taken care of its head coaching search. The Lions cancelled an interview with Todd Bowles because they have zeroed in on Saints Tight Ends coach Dan Campbell. Campbell is a well respected former player who previously was the interim head coach of the Dolphins.

So if youre keeping track the reaming jobs are: Eagles, Chargers, and Texans.

But our own John Kincade is hearing “there is smoke around Joe Brady.” Brady was actually discussed with Dan Orlovsky when he joined the John Kincade show Thursday. “You dont want to be a year late on Joe Brady.”

SATURDAY UPDATE:

Friday wasnt very busy with the Eagles search, but that didnt stop other teams from hiring, or at least waiting to hire their guy. Saturday is looking slightly more active!

The Eagles are interviewing a fan, AND a player favorite. Duce Staley.

Ok so this did actually come out yesterday, but I am not letting the facts get in the way of the “Saturday” update story. Duce interviewed when Doug Pederson got the job. He has slowly (painfully) worked his way up but he also has lasted a while. Moving up from a quality controls coach, to running backs coach, to “assistant coach”. which seemed like one of those resume builders with no actual added responsibility (but im not in the room so what do I know?).

Recently former Eagles players (including Malcolm Jenkins) have come out in support of Duce, saying that he is who the players want. While that may be the case, the team just won 4 games. I am not listening to what the players want right now.

But according to Adam Schefter, its ANOTHER Staley who has the Eagles attention right now.

The Eagles will be able to conduct an interview is the Rams lose to the Packers on Saturday. This is a new name that I havent heard mentioned yet. When Schefter joined The John Kincade show on Tuesday he mentioned how the Eagles might go towards the defensive side of the ball. Thats certainly would be a change because the Eagles havent had a defensive minded head coach since Ray Rhodes.

And if you were wondering about the other jobs that are available, well it seems the Chargers have zeroed in on Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. Of course, Daboll’s Bills are set to take on the Ravens this weekend, so he is a little busy, but if the Chargers do indeed hire Daboll than that would mean the remaining jobs are the Eagles, and Texans. Which means that former head coach Doug Pederson might be a man without a head coaching job just three years after hoisting the Lombardi

BUT just because he might not be a head coach doesnt mean he will be a man without a job. According to Tom Pelisserio Doug Pederson is in the running to take over the Seahawks offensive coordinator position.

and heres a name that Eagles fans might raise an eyebrow at.

If you remember, Josh McDaniels was scheduled to take the Colts head coaching job in 2018 until he ran back to “Daddy Bill.” Some have speculated that McDaniels is considered a favorite to take over for Bill Belichick when the Hall of Fame coach retires.

This interview is understandable after the Patriots WOW’d the NFL with their innovative offense this season after Tom Brady left! PROVING that it was the system, and not the player. Wait! Literally none of that happened and the Patriots looked like a disaster offensively. Yes! I am showing my bias with this one.

But one name that many fans have wondered about is Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Well heres news on that front!

MONDAY UPDATE:

The Eagles had a LONG interview with McDaniels in Florida according to John Clark. Long interviews arent out of the norm in sports. Joe Girardi’s first meeting with the Phillies went something like 8-9 hours.

But one job, and candidate is off the board as the Chargers have hired Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Staley will never get to his Eagles interview as this came together covertly and quickly. The good news however, if youre a Brian Daboll fan, is he is a man without a head coaching job. It was believed Daboll would be the Chargers pick, but they suddenly went with Staley.

But the Eagles are planning on interviewing a familiar face today

and what about Brian Dobell? Well it looks like he said thanks, but not thanks according to our own Rob Maaddi

TUESDAY UPDATE

The first report comes from Adam Schefter (who you will be able to hear on Wednesday with The John Kincade Show at 8:10am) is reporting that the Eagles are bringing in yet another candidate for an interview

But what about Kellen Moore? Moore originally was mentioned last Thursday by Todd Archer of ESPN as a possible candidate that the Eagles might interview….well they did it

and since theyre interviewing everyone, you may as well hit up a special teams coordinator. You wouldnt want to look like you DIDNT do your due diligence after all…

Yes! That is the son of former Giants head coach Jim Fassel. Who, since 2005, hasnt really moved up the coaching ladder. Hes been a special teams coordinator everywhere he goes. But then again Jake Elliot wasnt good this year so this move is brilliant!

AND WE HAVE A NEW NAME! (ok in fairness Fassel was new but thats “LOL” new.)

At this point, if you have won a few championships in Madden then you should expect a phone call. Everyone except Eric Bieniemy that is. Which is weird because Andy Reid has a good relationship to this day with Jeffrey Lurie. Maybe this is the Eagles trying to distance themselves from the Reid tree, but then again they showed interest in Kafka. It really is weird behavior though for an organization that is interviewing anyone.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE:

Yesterday we saw Kellen Moore get his interview with the Eagles, as other names were bandied about including Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Well according to Ian Rapoport Allen will be getting his chance today to dazzle Jeffrey and company

And what about our old friend Doug Pederson? According to Les Bowen Doug will take a year off from coaching. Doug was getting some interest from the Seahawks as a possible replacement for their vacant offensive coordinator position. I, for one, am shocked that a Super Bowl winning coach three years removed from winning that Lombardi couldnt even get a head coaching interview. Since Doug’s firing came late in the game it may have led to this decision to step away for a year and reassess his opportunities next off season.

THURSDAY UPDATE:

Well if you are one of the people who banged the “no one will want to come here” drum than you have room to pound your chest. Here’s what Paul Domowitch  said regarding the Eagles struggle to find a coach

“Except this isn’t a perfect world and that’s not how it went. Riley told the Eagles he wasn’t interested in the Eagles job. And he hasn’t been the only one to tell them that.”

That looks pretty damning but without knowing who the candidates (other than Riley) are its hard to know how damning this is. For instance, if the Eagles offered Arthur Smith the job, but he already knew he was going to Atlanta, it doesnt look THAT bad. If its Brian Daboll who would rather go back to Buffalo to be an offensive coordinator than thats a bad look.

But some people are actually STAYING in Philadelphia, imagine that. It was reported last week that offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland was leaving to take the job at Alabama, but that will not be the case. Former Bills, and Jags head coach Doug Marone will be heading there instead. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Stoutland will be back, a new coach could want a new offensive line coach. But Stoutland is well respected and considered one of the better offensive line coaches in the game. And there is another coach who may be staying put that had outside interest

This is an interesting one because the Eagles special teams hasnt been good in YEARS. Its been trending in the wrong direction. This, like with Stoutland, may be a situation of leaving themselves the option of keeping Fipp. If a new coach comes in and wants to go with his own special teams guy than I doubt the Eagles front office is married to Dave Fipp

Keep it on the Fanatic as we will continue to update you!