It's the offseason in Eagles world, and folks... things are rocky.
Philly legend, two-time Super Bowl champion, and No. 1 @NBCSPhilly fan Chris Long joined the Dan LeBatard Show on Tuesday to discuss, among other things, the state of the Eagles post-Doug Pederson.
Because the Eagles started their head coach search a week later than the six other teams with openings, they're already behind - and apparently are scrambling to catch up, which isn't encouraging.
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And Long, now two full seasons removed from being an Eagle, doesn't exactly sound impressed by what the Eagles have to offer the top coaching candidates out there:
"Now you've got Jalen Hurts, who you might've alienated. You've got Carson, who might feel alienated. And you've got a training camp an an OTA with a new coach, whoever that is, and a job that a lot of guys might not want to take. You're $60 mil over the cap, your roster's aging. And the guy who won a Super Bowl and there's a statue of him outside the stadium? He left because, in part, he wanted more control.
"If I'm a coach, a really good coach who's got clout, do I want to go into a situation where a guy just left, who won them a Super Bowl in franchise history, [because he] wanted more control?"
When you put it that way, it feels the Eagles will be lucky to hire Larry Poff to coach the team next season.
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I think Long really hits the nail on the head when he looks at the way Pederson left the organization, and it's something Jeffrey Lurie even touched on during his Zoom press conference on Monday: Pederson wasn't fired for being a bad coach, he was fired for a disagreement over the organization's direction and a lack of support from the front office despite coaching the team to a dang Super Bowl.
Lurie's apparent unwavering allegiance to Howie Roseman, and his unwillingness to entrust more power to a coach with a ring, is going to make coaching the Eagles a really tough sell, essentially doubling down on their disadvantages in the coaching search race.
Which means they could wind up with a disappointing hire, and a couple of wasted years incoming.
Elsewhere in the discussion, Long did say he thinks that Carson Wentz is salvageable as a quarterback, which is probably the best possible upside for Eagles fans after Pederson's firing. So that's at least a glimmer of optimism.
But things have... looked better in Eagles land.
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