Juan Castillo Fired As Defensive Coordinator, Todd Bowles To Take Over

Andy Reid said he would make changes. This certainly is a big one.

The Eagles have fired Juan Castillo as defensive coordinator and replaced him with Todd Bowles.

Here is Reid's statement:

“I want to make it clear that I have nothing but the ultimate respect for Juan Castillo as a coach and as a person. He’s one of the finest football coaches that I have ever worked with. He has served this organization extremely well for 18 years and letting him go was a difficult decision. I know he will continue to be a successful coach in this league and wish he and his family nothing but the best.

“We’re six games into the season and average isn’t good enough. I know the potential of our team and insist on maximizing it.”

Castillo's unit was 13th in the league this season in points allowed with 20.8 points per game. But it appears he was unable to survive the disaster of Sunday, where the Eagles defense blew a 10 point lead with just minutes to go.

Over his 22 game span as Eagles defensive coordinator, Castillo's unit gave up an average of just over 20 points and roughly 328 yards per game.

The firing of Castillo means that Bowles will take over as defensive coordinator. Bowles was believed to be the man the Eagles originally wanted before they hired Castillo, but he remained in Miami.

This sure seems like a move by Reid to save his job, and at least 1 ex-Eagles player sure seems to have chimed in saying as much. Here is what Asante Samuel (@pick_six22) had to say about the move via Twitter.

Sometimes you have to blame yourself. You can't try and always point the figure at someone else

Obviously the firing leaves plenty of questions to be asked. Why fire Castillo now, when the defense was much improved this year? If Castillo is gone, why isn't Mart Mornhinweg, who's unit is 31st in the league in points per game? What does this mean about Reid's future- is he actually coaching for his job?

Reid will likely be asked those questions today when he speaks at 12 at the NovaCare Complex.

Follow Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks