13 head coaching candidates for Eagles to consider
The Eagles have moved on from Doug Pederson, so here are some candidates for the Eagles to consider. By Dave Zangaro
The Eagles on Monday decided to move on from Doug Pederson after five years with him at the helm.
So now they'll enter a coaching search.
The thought here is that the next coach will definitely be an offensive mind. That’s what Jeff Lurie clearly prefers.
With that in mind, here are 13 potential replacements if the Eagles end up in a coaching search:
Duce has been with the Eagles as a coach since the 2011 season and has worked his way up to being the running backs coach and assistant head coach since 2018. The Eagles promoted Staley to assistant head coach when they decided to promote Mike Groh as their offensive coordinator over him. If Staley is promoted, it might not prohibit the Eagles from hiring an offensive coordinator to call the plays. The Eagles seem preoccupied with hiring a coach with a deeper history in the pass game. I think Staley might be a good play caller and a good head coach but I think it’s unlikely the Eagles would promote from within.
The Eagles might have to wait a while if they want to hire Daboll, who is the Bills’ offensive coordinator. Why would the Eagles want him? Have you seen Josh Allen? He turned a guy who was the butt of jokes into a legitimate MVP candidate. The Bills won 13 games this season and did it behind the strength of the No. 2 offense in the NFL in points scored and total yards.
Most of these coaching candidates would likely get a chance to fix Carson Wentz. And maybe Riley would too. But if the Eagles bring in Riley they might be all in on Jalen Hurts, who played in 2019 at Oklahoma under Riley. Lurie would probably have to throw some crazy money at Riley to get him to leave Oklahoma, where he’s been since 2015 and where he’s been the head coach since 2017. But the 37-year-old seems destined for an NFL job if he ever wants it.
Just because the Eagles moved on from Pederson, it doesn’t mean that coaching hire didn’t work. They won a Super Bowl after all. So maybe the Eagles go back to the Andy Reid Tree once more. Bieniemy should have been hired by a team this time last year but it seems like he’ll have a head coaching job soon enough. If the Eagles want Bieniemy, they might have to outbid other teams.
If the Eagles can’t get Bieniemy maybe they go after the next best thing. Kafka is expected to replace Bieniemy as the Chiefs’ OC if Bieniemy moves on, but maybe the Eagles think the 33-year-old is ready for an even bigger jump. The Eagles had some interest in Kafka as an OC last year but maybe that was just the connection with Pederson, who once coached him.
The Titans’ offensive coordinator is now available after losing to the Ravens in the wild card round. It wasn’t a great audition as the Titans scored just 13 pouts in that game, but Smith had a very good season in Tennessee. The Titans had the fourth-highest scoring team in the league and were tied with the Bills for second-most yards in the NFL. Smith is just 38 and has worked as a coach on both sides of the ball, which might be an attractive quality in a candidate. His work with Ryan Tannehill the last two years shouldn’t be overlooked. Could he revive Wentz’s career in the same way?
The guy who replaced Marty Mornhinweg in Baltimore figured out how to design an offense around Lamar Jackson, so maybe Roman would come to Philly and design an offense around Hurts. Or maybe he’d get Wentz. In any case, Roman is a highly regarded offensive mind, but the Eagles would need to really change their offensive identity.
If the Eagles can’t land Roman, then Urban is the next best thing. The Eagles had interest in Urban as a possible OC last year so they’re fond of him. Urban has been the Ravens’ QBs coach for the past three seasons as Jackson became a star. Urban worked for the Eagles from 2004-2010, holding the QBs coach job those last two years.
The 31-year-old is a hot name for the second time in two years. He made the jump from LSU to Carolina last offseason to work under Matt Rhule. But he’s now getting some serious buzz as a head coaching candidate. Is a 31-year-old head coach the best way to revive Wentz’s career? Not sure. But if the Eagles were to hire him it would be landing a big fish.
I did a list of potential offensive coordinator hires last week and neglected to list Hamilton, who deserves to be considered for that job and more. Hamilton spent the 2020 season as the QBs coach for the Chargers, helping Justin Herbert to have a tremendous rookie season. He was the Colts’ offensive coordinator from 2013-15 too.
Another guy we mentioned last week for the possible offensive coordinator position, Caldwell has been a head coach twice before, with the Colts from 2009-11 and the Lions from 2014-17. In those two stops, he had a win-loss record of 62-50 (.554). His only two losing seasons in seven were the tanking year between Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck in Indy and his second season with the Lions in 2015.
One thing the Eagles really liked about Pederson was that his past as an NFL quarterback gave him the ability to connect with players. Leftwich would have that too. He's been a fast riser since becoming a coach. Leftwich coached QBs in Arizona from 2017-18 and took over as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator in 2019. It won’t be long before he’s a head coach.
The Eagles were interested in the 35-year-old USC offensive coordinator as an OC candidate last year but a title-only OC job wasn’t enough to pry him from Southern California. A head coaching job might do the trick. He comes from the Mike Leach Air Raid offense, which is intriguing.
