Philadelphia Eagles officially hire Doug Pederson as head coach

The Philadelphia Eagles officially hired Doug Pederson as head coach. The team made the announcement official on Monday.

"We are excited to introduce Doug Pederson as our new head coach," said Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie. "Doug is a strategic thinker, a compelling leader and communicator, and someone who truly knows how to get the best out of his players. All of these factors were what initially attracted us to Doug and we believe that he is the right man to help us achieve our ultimate goal."

The news of Pederson's hire first broke last week. The Eagles were unable to officially hire him until now because he was still busy serving as the offensive coordinator of the Chiefs. Pederson became available when Kansas City was eliminated by losing to the New England Patriots in the playoffs.

The 47-year-old Pederson played in the NFL as a quarterback from 1993 through 2004. He was the starting quarterback of the Eagles under Andy Reid in 1999. After coaching high school football from 2005 through 2008, Pederson joined Reid's staff as an offensive quality control coordinator. He was later promoted to quarterbacks coach. After Reid got fired by the Eagles and took a job with the Chiefs, Kansas City hired Pederson to be their offensive coordinator.

The Chiefs ranked sixth, 16th, and ninth in points scored respectively from 2013 through 2015. It's hard to say just how much influence Pederson had on the Chiefs' offense because Reid was the primary play-caller during his tenure. Reid did allow Pederson to get more involved in play-calling to some extent during the 2015 season.

Pederson comes to Philadelphia with a lot to prove. It's safe to say Eagles fans are skeptical of the hire.

The Eagles will hold a press conference to introduce Pederson at 2:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Jan. 19.