The first head coaching candidate with previous ties to the Eagles has emerged.
The Eagles have requested permission to interview Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who spent the 2012 season on Andy Reid’s staff.
Bowles, 57, spent eight years in the NFL as a safety after playing for Bruce Arians at Temple. After coaching for a few years at the college level, he began his NFL coaching career in 2000 with the Jets. He had stints with the Browns and Cowboys before joining Tony Sparano’s Dolphins staff in 2008 as assistant head coach and secondary coach.
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SIGN UP HERE When Sparano was fired 13 games into the 2011 season, Bowles became interim coach and led the Dolphins to two wins in their last three games.
He replaced Johnnie Lynn as the Eagles’ secondary coach for the start of the 2012 season, and when Reid fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo during the bye week, Bowles served as interim defensive coordinator the rest of the season.
Bowles then became Arians’ defensive coordinator in Arizona for two years before getting the Jets’ head coaching job in 2015.
His first year in New York, the Jets went 10-6 - still their only winning record since 2010 - and ranked fourth in the NFL in defense. But they went just 14-34 the next three years and he was fired after the 2018 season and replaced by Adam Gase.
NFL
The Bucs ranked No. 6 in the NFL in yards allowed, No. 8 in points allowed and No. 5 in takeaways this year.
They went 11-5 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2007, beating Washington 31-23 in a wild-card game on Saturday. They’re scheduled to face the Saints Sunday in New Orleans.
Bowles is one of 10 former Andy Reid assistants that's served as an NFL head coach.
He's the second defensive coach identified so far as a candidate to replace Doug Pederson, who the Eagles fired on Monday.
The last defensive coach the Eagles hired was Ray Rhodes in 1995.
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