Chiefs writer weighs in on the Eagles' hiring of Doug Pederson

Now that Doug Pederson is (going to be) the next head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, it's time to learn more about him. If you haven't read this profile of Pederson, definitely check that out now. For additional insight, here's what Chiefs writer Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride had to say about Kansas City's offensive coordinator.

1) What’s your overall impression of the Doug Pederson hire?

For the most part, we looked at the Chiefs offense as Andy Reid's offense. That was the case for pretty much the first two and a half years of the Reid era in KC. Then Andy said that Pederson was calling some plays this season. That started to put it on my radar a little bit that Pederson could be a head coaching candidate. It seems a little early for him because he just became a coordinator three years ago and this has mostly been Reid's offense but it's obvious that Reid was coaching him up to get to this point. So he has a pretty good mentor.

2) How much of a role did Pederson really have in the offense when it’s been Andy Reid calling most of the plays?

That's the thing. We really don't know. Pederson clearly knows Reid's offense very well having played in it and coached in it so that's important. But how involved was Pederson in game planning each week and how many plays did he call? You guys know Reid well enough and know that he hardly says anything in his press conferences. We really don't know.

3) What has the Chiefs offense looked like over the past three years? In terms of style and effectiveness?

We complain about the Chiefs offense sometimes because they don't go vertical very often but that's a case of the Chiefs playing to the strength of their players. Alex Smith can get the ball out quick and he's accurate on short throws so the Chiefs offense is a reflection of that. I see that as a good thing -- Reid and Pederson weren't trying to force the Chiefs to do something they weren't built to do.

4) Jeffrey Lurie talked about how it’s important that the next Eagles coach has "emotional intelligence." Is there any indication of how players/coaches liked working with Pederson?

Yes, we always got the impression that players liked him. There was never any squabbling or anything like that about the coaches (and if there was, it was kept in house). Pederson can connect with many of the Chiefs players because he was in the same position as them not that long ago.