Jeff Stoutland won’t be going back to Alabama after all.
About a week ago, a report from TheAthletic made it seem like the Eagles’ offensive line coach would be re-joining Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa but now it appears that won’t be happening.
The latest report says former Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone will be taking the Alabama OL job and will be reuniting with his longtime friend Bill O’Brien, who is the new OC in Alabama.
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This obviously seems like good news for the Eagles, who at least won’t be losing Stoutland to Alabama.
Stoutland, 58, is under contract with the Eagles but his future with the team is obviously up in the air as the team searches for its new head coach. Sometimes new head coaches like to bring in their own assistant coaches, but it would behoove the Eagles to keep Stout.
Since his arrival in 2013, Stoutland has become one of the greatest assistant coaches in Eagles history. He proved it in 2020.
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The Eagles went through excessive injuries on their OL during the 2020 season but Stoutland had the backups ready to play. The Eagles ended up starting 14 different OL combinations this past season.
And if the Eagles hold on to Stoutland, he’ll be able to continue his work with former rugby player Jordan Mailata. In three years, Mailata went from a long-term project to a legitimate starting left tackle. He has a real chance to be the future left tackle for the franchise if he beats out former first-round pick Andre Dillard in camp this summer.
While Stoutland has been with the Eagles since 2013, he was promoted to OL coach/run game coordinator in 2018. Before joining the Eagles, he coached at Alabama for two seasons.
When Doug Pederson took over as head coach in 2016, Stoutland was one of the coaches the Eagles kept on staff. That ended up being a tremendous decision.
“He has a lot of energy, very, very excited,” Pederson said during the season. “For him, I can understand it was a little bit of an unknown time, right? New head coach coming in, you don't know if you're going to be here or somewhere else, but I just assured him that quite frankly, he was going to be my offensive line coach. But it was a great meeting. A lot of energy, and looking back, a great decision on my part.”
During his eight seasons as the Eagles’ OL coach, Stoutland’s players have combined for six All-Pros and 16 Pro Bowls.
And Stout has really elevated everyone. Evan Mathis (2 Pro Bowls, 1 All-Pros), Jason Kelce (4 Pro Bowls, 3 All-Pros) and Brandon Brooks (3 Pro Bowls) were in the league prior to playing for Stoutland but never made a single All-Pro team or Pro Bowl until he became their coach.
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