Eagles 2020-2021 Season

[bkeich]

Is anyone else concerned that we are firing / releasing a coaching staff that has made the playoffs in3 of the last 4 years, won 4 playoff games and a SuperBowl in order to hire the junior coaches for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in 6 years?

Modeling ourselves to capture the magic of Colts? Really?

Pederson must have really said some strange things in the meetings with Lurie. We are REALLY downgrading our coaching staff fast from what I see.

[zambonir]

Trust the process

I guess I'm not terribly concerned because we were looking at three years without any meaningful success (this one included) regardless. And none of the other candidates seemed especially good either. McDaniels has multiple negatives aside from his Pats pedigree, and I think we have to assume Bienemy knew better than to try and work for this front office, and/or the Eagles didn't want to hire Reid's sort-of OC for the second time in a row.

It was clearly Pederson or Wentz, no matter what anyone says. And beyond that, it's really all about the players. The reason Doc Rivers is working out better than Joe Girardi is because the SIxers have better talent and a better GM than the Phillies did. Same with the Flyers. Unfortunately the Eagles are now the Phillies until proven otherwise.

[nycphils]

Also John Dorsey is leaving for a real job with Detroit.

That’s bad. I know Dorsey had mixed results in Cleveland’s draft, but he’s a solid personnel guy. Now who can influence Howie?

[LegoDoom]

The Eagles didn't have an OC last year, so that's an immediate upgrade. It also seems like play calling will be upgraded. Schwartz has been good and bad, so it's unclear right now.

[phillychuck]

Sirianni did an interview with Spadaro on the Eagles' site.

Summary of Spadaro interview:

Believes in fundamentals making the difference when two NFL players interact (I think I disagree).
Believes in tailoring the system and gameplan to fit the players (agree, but requires a lot of weekly work).
Thinks it's great to have two good QBs. (agree, but neither Wentz nor Hurts is presently "good").
Thinks that Gannon's big contribution to the defense will be his intensity and passion (Seems like scheme and defensive play-calling would be more important to me, but maybe).
Will be calling plays himself. (OK)
Believes in getting to know players in terms of on-field talent and off the field as people. (agree)
Believes he can bring things to the job that he has learned from all the coaches he has worked with and around, including his father and brothers (agree, good idea to pick and choose successful strategies).

I found it difficult, listening to him talk, to believe he could "blow someone away" in an interview situation. He doesn't express his ideas that clearly, uses a lot of cliches, doesn't exude passion, didn't flash a lot of charisma. Might have been that this was a remote interview to be fair, and only 20 minutes.

[allentown]

The wise man also speaks differently to the press than to his potential/actual employer and team. In dealing with a media that loves to stoke controversy, the standard interview cliche is generally your friend, especially when discussing topics like the QB situation, the whole Wentz hullabaloo, and working with Howie and Wentz. Part of what likely made him so favorably received in the hiring interview was an agreement to go with Wentz, let Howie be in charge, and accept the well-reported owner interference. It has been widely reported that the top choices were put off by Roseman's power and Lurie's excessive involvement, including essentially choosing at least one first round draft pick and dragging Howie and Pederson along. Wentz's personal comm channel to Lurie isn't and wasn't viewed as positive by a lot of applicants.

In Siriani, we did not hire a super sought after guy.

[zambonir]

I just watched one of the video clips and he definitely needs some more media training. Our coaches are almost never warm and fuzzy but you definitely need to have a personality.

The big question remains what is going to happen with Wentz. Some says that's not over, that Wentz has little interested in continuing to work for Lurie and Roseman, it wasn't really Doug. Granted both sides are stuck, but what if he starts and it doesn't work out? Or doesn't even win the job out of camp?

The new QB coach seems like a good rising star but he's also tight with Hurts. Regardless, if they feeling was that Wentz best responded to tough love from two somewhat older and proven offensive guys in Reich and DeFillippo, it doesn't seem like he's really going to get that from this staff.

[phillychuck]

The community reaction to his press conference (as reflected by sports radio, not always a reliable measure) has been pretty negative. Gargano thought he sounded like an amateur, Missinelli and his co-host thought he seemed nervous and unprepared. Most of the hosts have been clear about saying it was just a press conference and that the proof is in the performance of the team. I'm still completely stunned that he could have blown anyone away in an interview. He comes across as a guy who was just given his first high-school JV job. Touting his principles (beliefs) comes across like a rehearsed response and his answers to tough questions were very non-specific.

[zambonir]

Obviously Reich's recommendation must have counted for a lot, but maybe they also were overly colored by feeling like he's the one who got away.

You really never know. As has certainly been said Reid was not a better on-paper hire himself. Heck even Doug had almost as much time as a high school coach than as a pro position coach/OC. But this feels a lot like Howie wanting to develop a coach more than wanting to win now, though that's also not an unreasonable plan.

It's pretty amazing how many coaches they have developed, including the Texans hire. Sometimes I forget that Gruden was also one of them (Harbaugh I always remember).

[LegoDoom]

I haven't seen the interview, but criticizing him for an interview seems odd. Belichick and Reid are much different talking to the media than they are about football.

EDIT: I meant press conference and not his interview with the team. Sorry about that.

[zambonir]

Doug's first press conference was apparently terrible too. Media relations certainly matters, but not that much, and not when you can't even be in the room with them.

What was a bigger deal, according to the Athletic coverage I read, is how he wouldn't even commit to Wentz being on the roster this season. A benign thing to some extent, but I can't help but think that A) It's still clearly now 100% that he stays and B) There are so many QBs suddenly in play that a "your problem for my problem" swap really can't be ruled out.

[bkeich]

I just can’t help but feel like this is the least accomplished coaching staff I have ever seen. Almost every single coach is taking a step up to take their job, some of them really two steps up. Very young, hopefully brings a lot of energy, but with the exception of 1-2 coaches everyone is going to be learning on the job.

I want to see Andy Reid’s first couple years of coaching staff with young guys that went on to huge success, but that was lightning in a bottle, not sure it is often repeated.

Next season is completely tossed away I think. We will be lucky to win 4 again. They are going to have to move on from a lot of veterans and we have no salary cap space to fill some of the big holes. The draft will provide some players hopefully, but given Howie’s history in the draft it is hard to think he will do well without help.

It would be great to swing a few trades for guys we are obviously going to have to move (Ertz, Malik Jackson, DJax), but they just don’t have any value. I would hate to have to trade someone like Fletcher Cox or Lane Johnson, but we may have to, and that just makes the cap issues bigger.

I could live with the losing if I saw a young core growing, but this more like the 2012-14 Phillies in the near term. Slowly moving on from veterans because no one else really wants them and they are just good enough to play for a bad team.

I assume Howie is gone after another bad season, I hope that doesn’t mean that we are not starting the rebuild until he is gone.

[flyers19rw]

I just can’t help but feel like this is the least accomplished coaching staff I have ever seen. Almost every single coach is taking a step up to take their job, some of them really two steps up. Very young, hopefully brings a lot of energy, but with the exception of 1-2 coaches everyone is going to be learning on the job.

This might be a good thing. Not that many experienced coaches coming out of existing staffs end up doing that well. There in different situations with different players. Place and players made them look to be excellent candidates but without them, not so much.
Like it or not, the pro game is changing. The players coming into it are coming out of systems that are not always in sync with the pro game. You can try to change them to meet the pro systems hoping that they'll succeed in it or you take them from where they are and place them into situations that they know and can succeed. These younger coaches are into the newer game of wider open schemes focused on getting the ball to the edges of the defenses with speed. The Ravens, Chiefs, Rams, Saints and a few other teams are grasping that and succeeding. I'm not ready to hang crepe for 2021 yet.

[zambonir]

It's probably gonna be a very different conversation in two months (or one).

What happens after the Eagles trade Carson Wentz?

I don't see how this season has any impact on Howie one or way another. He and the new coach get a couple of years to re-orient the franchise. If it goes well they are here for 5-10 years. If not one would hope a new GM hires a new coach.

I don't necessarily see a four-loss team, just a ceililng of the same 7-9 win, maybe they make the playoffs maybe not. And if the really do trade Wentz it's a mulligan season anyway, I assume, both for cap reasons and because you are either breaking in a young QB or starting a middling vet.

[zambonir]

Or in two days. Yesterday I still thought this was somewhat just the rumor mill/for clicks, but it really seems not. Indy (with Reich and now Press Taylor) and Chicago (with DeFilippo and, heh, Foles) seem to top the lists (though those aren't necessarily the teams who would give up the most).

Sources: Eagles expected to trade Wentz soon

[LegoDoom]

Isn't that article wrong on the dead cap hit? It says $34M. That's his 2021 cap hit. Isn't the dead cap hit $59M?

I read some rumors of the Bears offering a 2nd rounder plus, the Colts beat that offer, and the Bears are now likely offering a 1st. Also a rumor that Foles would be included in a deal with the Bears.

[zambonir]

Imprecise, but 2021 is likely all they meant.

ESPN's speculative round-up:

Trade destinations for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz

[gmwannabe]

i would approve of a first and fourth this year and a first and third next year. Don NOT get fleeced or hornswoggled on this. Thank goodness El Fleece' (Ruben) is not involved in this trade.
gm

[bkeich]

Well, offering Foles is actually a negative. His salary far exceeds his value at this point. That would be a salary dump.

We all love the guy, but let’s be honest, the guy who figured out how to use him for a few games is gone. A bunch of other coaches have tried to design offenses around him and failed. He had a great season a long time ago under Chip Kelly and a great playoff run under Pederson, but there is a reason he is perpetually available. Class act, will never have to buy his own beer in Philly, but we really dont want to get stuck with his contract on top of all the other salary cap issues we have (I realize after a trade he could just be released with near zero cap hit, but then it was pointless to include him in a deal)

[xogfog]

I really hope these reports are wrong, I am not sold on Hurts at all. He doesn't have great arm talent, he is not Lamar Jackson fast, he is not that big, so if he keeps running, injury is a concern. Sure, Wentz had a horrible season, but they've removed the coaches that he didn't get along with and it would be worth seeing where he could be rebuilt to be. Wentz's ceiling is still higher than Hurts.