As the Eagles prepare for a chance to win the NFC East for a second straight season, it ought to help that they have a five year head start.
Sort of.
While the Eagles do have some new coaches on their staff for 2020, they’re bringing back their core for the upcoming season. Doug Pederson, Jim Schwartz and Carson Wentz are all returning for Year 5 together.
Meanwhile, the other three teams in the division hired new head coaches. And they have new coaches before what is sure to be an unusual season.
I’ve thought about that with the new staffs just in our division here and in our conference,” Pederson said Monday morning. “It has to be extremely tough not to be around [each other]. They spent a little bit of time, probably maybe a few weeks way back in February and March, maybe together, but it would be hard. And then not having your players in the off-season trying to teach a new offense, defense, special teams, I'm sure is probably difficult in its own right.
“We've been blessed. I've been blessed going into my fifth year here in Philadelphia and maintaining the staff that I have and adding some great additions to the staff this year. And our players are excited because they are not having to learn a necessarily new offense or defense or special teams.
“So I'm not necessarily thinking it's going to be a leg up, but at the same time, it does give us confidence going into camp that we all are on the same page.
It’s not like the Eagles didn’t have any changes to their staff; they did.
The Eagles this offseason fired offensive coordinator Mike Groh and then promoted Press Taylor, hired Rich Scangarello as a senior offensive assistant, Marty Mornhinweg as senior offensive consultant and Andrew Breiner as pass game analyst.
NFL
And on the defensive side of the ball, Cory Undlin left to take the DC job in Detroit so the Eagles hired Marquand Manuel as his replacement. And they fired Phillip Daniels and replaced him with Matt Burke as the DL coach.
So there are some changes for the Eagles to work through this summer.
But that’s nothing compared to the changes coming to New York, Washington and Dallas. As a reminder, here’s what has gone on in those cities:
Cowboys: Hired Mike McCarthy as head coach; hired Mike Nolan as defensive coordinator; kept just three coaches from previous staff, including OC Kellen Moore.
Giants: Hired Joe Judge as head coach; hired Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator and Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator; kept six coaches from previous staff.
Washington Football Team: Hired Ron Rivera as head coach; hired Scott Turner as offensive coordinator and Jack Del Rio as defensive coordinator; kept just one coach from previous staff (special teams coordinator Nate Kaczor).
An NFC East team hasn’t won back-to-back division titles since the Eagles did it in 2001-04. The Eagles have a chance to do that in this unusual season. And they have this one big advantage working in their favor.
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