The Eagles are moving on to a Plan C. After their reported top target Ben McAdoo accepted the Giants’ head coaching job and Tom Coughlin withdrew his name from consideration, the Eagles are expected to pursue Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson as their next head coach, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets.
[RELATED: Tom Coughlin withdraws from Eagles’ HC search]
A former Eagles quarterback, Pederson has only been connected to the Philadelphia job and none of the other NFL head coaching vacancies. In addition to having played for the Eagles, he also coached with the team during Andy Reid‘s tenure, serving as an offensive quality control coach in 2009 and 2010, then as the club’s quarterbacks coach in 2011 and 2012.
Having followed Reid to Kansas City, Pederson is in his third season as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator. According to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), Reid confirmed that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie reached out to him to inquire about Pederson’s head coaching potential.
While McAdoo and Coughlin appear to have impressed the Eagles during the team’s head coaching search, Pederson shouldn’t necessarily be viewed a fall-back option for the club. One weekend report indicated that the Kansas City OC entered the process as Lurie’s favorite among non-head coaches. Since then, the team has seriously considered McAdoo and Coughlin, but saw the former promoted by the Giants, while the latter pulled out of the process.
Even if the Eagles decide to hire Pederson, the team can’t officially get anything done with him quite yet, with his Chiefs still alive in the postseason. If Kansas City is eliminated this weekend by the Patriots, Philadelphia would be able to move forward with Pederson, but if the Chiefs pull off an upset, Lurie and company would have to wait at least one more week.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Down to Pedersen. Everyone that interviews heads for the hills. Reason = Howie Roseman, HE IS THE CANCER…and MUST go!!!!!