If the Eagles had one of those memory-erasing stick devices from Men in Black, they would have probably used it on Mike Groh this offseason.
And then hired him as wide receiver coach.
But, alas, as technologically advanced as the Eagles are among sports teams, they don’t have that in their bag of tricks. And without it, they obviously couldn’t demote Groh from offensive coordinator to receivers coach, so the Eagles fired him.
Now Groh is going to Indy to join the guy he once replaced and he’s back in the role he had when the Eagles won Super Bowl LII.
It’s kind of a shame. Because if both sides could forget about the two years as offensive coordinator, Groh would be a great replacement for Carson Walch. But that just couldn’t happen.
While Groh lasted just two seasons with the Eagles as offensive coordinator, we might forget that during the 2017 season, Groh was a fantastic receivers coach. He was so good that he was promoted to offensive coordinator after just one year in Philadelphia.
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Under Groh in 2017, the Eagles got a lot from their receivers. The trio of Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor and Torrey Smith played very well that season on the way to a Super Bowl title.
Take a look at the Eagles’ wide receiver production under all four of their wide receiver coaching since Doug Pederson became head coach:
2016: (Greg Lewis) 170 receptions, 1,839 yards, 8 touchdowns
2017: (Mike Groh) 178 receptions, 2,269 yards, 20 touchdowns
2018: (Gunter Brewer) 178 receptions, 2,279 yards, 13 touchdowns
2019: (Carson Walch) 146 receptions, 1,657 yards, 11 touchdowns
This can sometimes be the problem with promoting from within. While it’s great for morale in the building, when the Eagles promoted Groh in 2018, they were weakened in two positions. Groh wasn’t as good of an OC as Frank Reich was in 2017 and Brewer (and then Walch) weren’t as good as Groh was at receiver coach in 2017.
While Groh has found a new job, the Eagles still haven’t officially replaced him yet. The Eagles still need to announce four coaching hires: offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach, defensive backs coach and defensive line coach.
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