Now that Sean McDermott has been shown the door, the next step is to look at who could possibly be his replacement. With former Eagles defensive assistants like Leslie Frasier, Ron Rivera & Steve Spagnuolo all getting head coaching gigs, so there's not many candidates "in the family," which Andy Reid has traditionally seemed to prefer. The only guy in the organization with a shot is the first candidate on our list.
Dick Jauron - Jauron and Reid served together under Mike Holmgren in Green Bay when Reid was a QB coach and Dick was coaching the defensive backs. After he was fired as head coach of the Bills last season, Reid hired him as a senior assistant/defensive backs coach. He has almost 15 years of experience as either a defensive coordinator or a head coach in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns have been given permission to interview Jauron for their vacant defensive coordinator position. The question is, is the fact that Jauron was here last season a good or a bad thing for him?
Winston Moss - Currently the assistant head coach and linebackers coach for the Packers, who had the best defense in the NFC this season. While the Packers run a 3-4 under Dom Capers, Moss has coached in previous 4-3 systems with the Seahawks and Saints. Plus he was the only guy to survive the Packers defensive purge following their poor 2008 season. He also played LB in the NFL for 11 years. The question here is whether the Eagles would want to go with another guy without coordinator experience?
Mike Singletary - He was a basically a disaster as a head coach, but the man still is one of the great defensive players in NFL history. He was a linebacking coach with the Ravens before heading to San Francisco to be Mike Nolan's assistant head coach/linebackers coach. Singletary took over as head coach on an interim basis in 2008 and after a decent finish to the season he was given the permanent job in 2009. The 49ers actually finished with the 2nd ranked defense in the NFC that year giving up less than 18 points per game. This past year, the Niners fell back to the pack defensively but still did have the 2nd best run defense in the conference.
Rob Ryan - He either will be or has been fired by the Browns and is considered by many likely to end up in Dallas. The main problem is that Ryan's resume doesn't really match up with his great coaching name. He's the son of former Eagles coach Buddy Ryan and the twin brother of Jets coach Rex. However, Rob hasn't had the same kind of success. Plus, if you're looking for someone to fix the pas defense Ryan is not your guy. As our pals at Blogging the Boys pointed out, his defenses have been some of the worst against the pass in the NFL. Also a 3-4 guy when the Eagles run a 4-3.
Bob Babich - Linebacker coach for the Bears for the past seven seasons. The Bears, who had one of the best defenses in football this year, also run a 4-3 so there wouldn't be a big transition here. The team has been known for having great linebackers over his tenure, but he was passed over for the coordinator job this past season. He has head coaching experience at the college level with North Dakota State.
I'm sure more names and possible candidates will surface in the coming days.