The Eagles’ disappointing season will not impede Doug Pederson from making it to a sixth year with the franchise. Pederson is expected to stay on as Eagles HC next season, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com report.
Philadelphia’s three-season playoff run crash-landing into a 4-10-1 showing, headlined by Carson Wentz‘s demotion, put Pederson’s job in jeopardy. But the Super Bowl-winning coach will have a chance to dig the team out of this hole.
While the Eagles will have a new defensive coordinator, with Jim Schwartz set to depart, their offensive point man will attempt to pick up the pieces. Pederson, 52, does have a meeting with Jeffrey Lurie set for Tuesday, however, per ESPN. It sounds like more changes are coming to Philly’s staff as well.
After the Eagles lost each of their starting wide receivers late last season, the team’s Pederson-Wentz setup still lifted the squad to the NFC East title — beating a much healthier Cowboys team to secure it — and played Seattle close in the playoffs despite Wentz’s injury. However, the Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts in Round 2 — a decision that reportedly affected Wentz’s confidence — and inserted him into their starting lineup after Wentz could not curtail his poor play. Wentz has expressed disappointment in how Pederson handled the benching, but as of mid-December, the Eagles were not planning to trade their recently extended quarterback. It would cost them more than $40MM to do so.
Pederson oversaw one of the most surprising playoff runs in modern NFL history three years ago, lifting the Eagles to three playoff upsets (by point spread) and doing so with Nick Foles. Pederson and then-OC Frank Reich reorganized Philly’s offense after Wentz’s injury, and Foles earned Super Bowl LII MVP honors. However, Reich’s departure for Indianapolis stung Philadelphia’s offense. Pederson has made changes to his offensive staff since, firing Reich’s replacement — Mike Groh — after last season and not hiring a new OC this year.
The Eagles, who suffered a rash of injuries at wideout and on their once-top-tier offensive line, have dropped from 11th to 26th in points scored this season. Even with this surprising season, Pederson is 42-36-1 during his Eagles tenure.
It will be interesting to see if non-Schwartz big-picture changes take place in Philly. The team has consistently been able to add pieces each offseason under Howie Roseman, helping lead to the Super Bowl title. But the team is projected to be well north of the to-be-determined 2021 salary cap, which will make it difficult for the Eagles to upgrade through free agency in March. But as of now, the Pederson-Roseman power structure looks to remain in place.
So Doug and Howie are back Schwartz is out. This breakdown of what it would look like to get rid of Carson: link to phillyvoice.com
It won’t be pretty next year.
NFC East really pushing for 20 years of no repeat division champs.
The biggest question is what they do in rd1. The eagles could be in the market to draft a QB in the top 5.
drafting a QB in the 2nd round was a mistake, but drafting a QB the year after in the 1st is a good idea? we arent getting Lawrence or Fields, so it would be too big a risk to take.
The entire focus should be on rebuilding the OL. That’s what the Bills did and look how much Josh Allen has improved as a result.
Going out and getting a top WR in Stefon Diggs certainly helped as well.
This team has more holes than swiss cheese. The OL is in shambles, the receivers can’t play, the secondary is an embarrassment and they don’t seem to value LB too much
Should be a painful next few years as this organization tries to dig itself out of cap hell. It’s absolutely crucial to strip Roseman of any power over drafting and stick him with book keeping. Consistent poor drafting is what has this organization where it is now. A slow, painful downward spiral since the super bowl
They don’t need a QB, but somebody will and will be looking to trade up to where Philly sits. Trade back, fill a different need and grab some more draft equity.
If the Eagles draft a QB in the first round, their entire front office needs to be fired immediately.
Wentz to Indy a possibility . tho maybe not in a trade but maybe after he’s released
Nope. Eagles would incur 50M plus in dead cap by releasing him. Trading him would be much, much more equitable for the team cap.
Did anyone actually watch pedersen coach this year?? He was terrible, going for 2 when shouldn’t , no in game change of strategy, abandon running game, undisciplined lines with penalties
yup I saw it…wish I could say your wrong but your not
My personal favorite was when he chose to call a screen against Seattle but didn’t give Wentz a target, so his quarterback got sacked immediately
How exactly did he not give Wentz a target? Also have you not read the articles stating that Wentz liked to change playcalls at the LOS which ruined plays? There’s plenty of blame to go around in that organization
I mean all of the receivers ran down the field when the play was designed for a quick pass. Thus, all of the pass-rushers chased Wentz, who didn’t have a chance. This isn’t an isolated incident either; the Eagles have been abysmal at screens all season. Wentz certainly did not play well, but Pederson’s poor play calling and lack of preparation is appalling. For the past three seasons, his teams have looked sluggish for 3/4 of the season before randomly turning a corner in December to save his job. Why can’t the team be consistent the rest of the year? I’m not blaming everything on Pederson, as some pitiful recent drafts have played a significant role as well, but he has not helped their case
Yeah, there are some people who inexplicably blame Wentz for the Eagles’ terrible play as a whole. Wentz wasn’t good, but Peterson is responsible more than anyone else individually for the Eagles’ woes. Aside from injuries, that is to say.
Wentz did of course play poorly, but I find it hard to blame him really for it when there are obvious flaws in his coaching and the talent around him. The Eagles are pretty much relying on Hurts’ incredible personal resilience to run the offense. I can’t say that I’m surprised necessarily that Pederson is still around, but it just seems strongly to be the wrong call.
I’m not sure if I’m for this or against it I would have liked Philly to look at Eric the enemy of Kansas City but not sure how that would have went I think the Eagles offense has looked better under Jalen hurts even though he’s turned the ball over a few times the offense has looked functionable compared to when Carson was in there so I think hurts might have saved Peterson’s job I also think John Dorsey is going to take over draft duties for the Eagles unless he’s hired away by someone else and let Holly try to fix this disaster of a salary cap situation he has put us in.
Schwartz departure was a start. I think Doug should have been behind him but he won a ring so he’s untouchable for a few years. Probably starts on the hot seat and gets fired after a 2-8 start? We get the old “they will battle for the starting an spot” in the offseason unless they take the hit and trade Wentz to Indy. They should trade back and load up on lineman/corners/linebackers but that’s a lot of needs. One or more of Graham/Ertz/Cox might be out to make space. Ertz is the obvious choice but the other two could be casualties after Alshon thanks for the free paycheck Jeffery is moved as well. Should be a new team. If not, same results.
Why would Indy want Carson Wentz? Why would they trade anything for him?
Because Wentz had his best years under colts head coach. Rivers is most likely going to be gone. Wentz isn’t trash. Just no healthy weapons and no line. The colts defense will let him not be pressured to do too much.
Look, I know you hate Wentz, but the guy is young and has had several years of starting experience. He has had success in the league, and has familiarity with the coach. There are good reasons to want him.
Wentz’s lack of success this past year, injury history, and large contract are reasons to not give up as much (especially the contract), but it does not eliminate entirely the desire to acquire him. The contract will be the sticking point-if Wentz is traded, the team getting him will likely have the Eagles agree to eat some of the cap hit as part of the deal.
Don’t hate Wentz at all! I’ve been on the Wentz Wagon from day one. But he still has value and we need a rebuild. Wentz/Ertz are probably both gone. Someone from the Dline is gone. Kelce will probably retire. Lane Johnson might but cut. This won’t be the super bowl team that turned insurance salesman into super bowl champions. Change is coming. We made it through Chips hacksaw job. We will come out of this.
I think you have to give Pederson at least one more year … the SB win gives him that grace period with a down year.
I don’t watch a lot of the Eagles, but what I have seen makes the issues look more on the OL than anything else. Wentz or Hurts, they are giving up 4 sacks a game.
Take playcalling away from Doug! He didn’t call plays in 2017.
For God’s sake hire a real OC.
What a different 24 hours makes. Based on the decision to bench Hurts in favor of “evaluating” Sudfeld in a close game, either Pederson was given absolute assurances of his job next year or he is certainly out of Philadelphia now. Seeing the players’ reactions on the sideline to the QB decision is very telling…