Doug Pederson: ‘I know Duce is happy'

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Doug Pederson said Duce Staley is happy in his current role with the Eagles and said he leans heavily on his former teammate throughout the year in a variety of ways.

I know Duce is happy to be here,” Pederson said. “He wants to be here. … Duce does a lot for me. He is the assistant head coach, let’s not forget that. He is my right-hand guy.

Pederson said he did consider Staley for the team’s offensive coordinator role, although he wound up not filling that position.

Pederson spoke on the Eagles Insider Podcast in an interview with team employee Dave Spadaro.

There was a lot of speculation about Staley when Pederson bypassed him during his offensive coordinator search, a search that eventually brought the Eagles several outside coaches with new titles but left Staley in the same position – running backs coach and assistant head coach.

Staley was bypassed when Pederson hired Mike Groh as offensive coordinator after the 2017 season. Staley was also an unsuccessful candidate for the head coaching vacancy when Chip Kelly was fired and Pederson was ultimately hired.

There was a published report last week in the Athletic that Staley had pursued the runnig backs coaching job at South Carolina, his alma mater, but a league source said that never happened.

Staley, a three-time 1,000-yard rusher for the Eagles, was Pederson’s teammate with the Eagles in 1999. He’s been on the team’s coaching staff since 2011, first with Andy Reid, then for three years with Kelly and now with Pederson.

He had the assistant head coach tag added to his official title after Groh was promoted from wide receivers coach to offensive coordinator after Frank Reich left for the Colts’ head coaching job after the Super Bowl.

Pederson explained in detail what makes Staley so important to him and so important to the team:

“Duce is very important to our offense, he’s very important to the running back room, obviously, and a lot of our success last year with some of the young players that played, the practice squad players that came up, is a direct result of what Duce Staley does (running) the developmental program, and that’s a lot on his plate throughout the course of the year, (and those are all) things that I evaluated as I went through this process. Duce is a valuable part to our offense and a valuable part to me and what he does for me and just at the time just decided to keep him in that role.”

Pederson brought in three new offensive coaches – Rich Scangarello is offensive assistant, Aaron Moorehead is wide receivers coach and Andrew Breiner is passing game analyst. Quarterbacks coach Press Taylor received the additional title of passing game coordinator.

It may seem on the outside that Staley is the odd man out, but Pederson made it clear he doesn’t feel that way.

“He does help run the football team if I have to step away," Pederson said. "He can take charge of the team. He runs that developmental program with the young players. He puts that all together. … Duce has his fingerprints all over that and that’s a big asset to me and obviously what he does with the running backs. You saw what Miles Sanders and Boston Scott did last year, what Jordan Howard did last year, being able to take young players and getting them to play at a high level is just a credit to what he does and also with game planning and things of that nature during the year.”

Despite not having the same leading rusher in back-to-back years since LeSean McCoy in 2013 and 2014, the Eagles have the 7th-most rushing yards in the NFL in Staley’s seven years as running backs coach. 

In a way, Staley is a prisoner of his own success. He’s so good in his current role that Pederson is always going to be reluctant to move him.

But he’s a heck of a coach, and it sure seems like Pederson understands that and recognizes it and appreciates it.

And that's important because this is a better football team with No. 22 on the sideline.

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