Eagles mailbag: Trying to pick Eagles' next coordinators

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The NFL playoffs begin this weekend and the Eagles will be watching like the rest of us.

After a 4-11-1 season this will be a pretty crazy offseason and it’s going to start with some tough decisions about the future.

That’s where we’ll start in today’s mailbag:

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This is an important point about the offensive coordinator position. As long as Doug Pederson is still the head coach and play caller, that offensive coordinator isn’t as appealing as some other opportunities around the league.

And if you were an up-and-coming offensive coach who expects to have plenty of opportunities, this Eagles’ job isn’t all that attractive, is it? You’d be coming in to coach under Pederson and would be handed an offense that was awful in 2020. Oh yeah, and the Eagles have a pretty unclear situation at quarterback going forward.

Last year, it seemed like the Eagles really wanted to lure USC coach Graham Harrell to Philly, but if they couldn’t get Harrell last year, why the heck would he want to come this year? I’d imagine they’ll run into those barriers quite often in this hiring process.

In terms of names, I came up with a list of 10 and will get into who I’d hire soon.

I’m not sure this would be a great fit. First off, Darius Slay would probably lose his mind if the Eagles hired Patricia. Those two don’t get along and Slay hasn’t been shy about voicing his lack of respect for Patricia. It wouldn’t be a good situation to hire a defensive coordinator you know one of your only good defensive players hates.

I think Patricia is a pretty smart defensive coach and he has been pretty schematically fluid in the past. That means flowing from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and using sub packages a ton. The Eagles seem like they want to stick with their base 4-3, so I’m not sure this is a great schematic fit either.

It might not be a great personality fit either. This defensive coordinator is really like a head coach for that side of the ball and it seems like Pederson and Patricia have very different styles when it comes to coaching and they have very different personalities. And it’s hard to ignore the disaster in Detroit.

Starting with defensive coordinator, I think the most likely decision is to promote DL coach Matt Burke. I get that it’s a hard sell to promote from within after a 4-11-1 season, but Burke makes a ton of sense. Overall, Jim Schwartz was a pretty good defensive coordinator, especially considering the talent he had. And Burke would be a way to continue running the same scheme that has been pretty effective.

If the Eagles go outside the organization for defensive coordinator, I think it would make sense to get back on the Gus Bus. Gus Bradley will be looking for a job with the coaching changes in Los Angeles and he’d be a great hire. He was on the list of head coaching candidates back in 2013 so getting him as a DC would be a nice move.

On the offensive side of the ball, it sounds like the Eagles are going to hire a real offensive coordinator, which is a good sign. They should probably hire someone with a track record with quarterbacks and that’s why Jim Caldwell makes a ton of sense to me. He was reportedly an option last year but spent the 2020 season out of football. He’s 65 now so it’s not like he’s an up-and-coming coach who will be trying to use this as a springboard. And he seems to have the right temperament for what the Eagles want.

Nah, Bieniemy is going to get a head coaching job this year. And he’s already an offensive coordinator. He wouldn’t leave Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes to come here.

For those of you who don’t listen to the Eagle Eye podcast, Dave’s Positivity Corner has become a staple for post-game pods this year. The idea started to make sure we took a balanced look after awful losses this season. They became tougher to do as those losses piled up. I’ll be honest: The outlook for the Eagles isn’t very good right now. I think the Positivity Corner will return in 2021.

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