There are six NFL teams currently looking for their next head coach, a normal amount in the first couple weeks of January following the end of the regular season.
But something very abnormal might be brewing.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, there are rumblings around the league about one of the six teams potentially trading for an already-employed head coach.
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Here's what Florio had to say on Saturday evening:
"In the current cycle, there’s buzz that one of the teams currently looking for a coach — the Jets, Jaguars, Lions, Falcons, Chargers, and Texans — could attempt to hire a current head coach with another team. The coach’s current team could end it all quickly by hanging up the phone. But it costs nothing to make the call, and it’s believed that at least one team may make the call to one of the teams that, at least for now, has a head coach."
Well okay then!
Trading for a head coach has happened twice in NFL history, first Jon Gruden to the Buccaneers and then Herm Edwards to the Chiefs. (It's not technically trading, but the end result is pretty similar.)
NFL
Between guys like Eric Bieniemy, Robert Saleh, Brian Daboll, not to mention collegiate names like Lincoln Riley, there doesn't seem to be a dearth of exciting head coach options out there.
Which would lead you to believe that, if a team wants to make a trade for an employed head coach, they really like that coach. And maybe they already have a connection with that head coach.
Could that head coach be the Eagles' Doug Pederson?
Quickly running through that list of six teams, one certainly stands out: the Jets. Pederson and Jets general manager Joe Douglas had success when they worked together in Philadelphia, winning a Super Bowl in 2017, and it's entirely possible that Douglas looks at Pederson as the main reason Carson Wentz was successful in 2017, and sees Howie Roseman as the main reason the Eagles have struggled since.
Douglas has a fascinating offseason coming up, with Sam Darnold in tow and the No. 2 pick in a QB-laden Draft. If Douglas likes what Pederson brings to the table in terms of working with a young quarterback, after watching that exact situation in person in Philadelphia, perhaps Douglas would want to bring Pederson in to New York to work with Darnold, or Justin Fields, or Zach Wilson - whoever they decide is the QB of the future.
It's also entirely possible that Pederson is on no one's radar after a miserable 2020 season from the Birds.
But Pederson has a Super Bowl pedigree and a reputation for commanding a loyal locker room as a player's coach, both of which go a long way. So it's not impossible.
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