Eagles News: More background on Graham Harrell

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Graham Harrell’s NFL interest puts USC at risk of being a victim of its own success - The Athletic
Pederson calls plays for the Eagles, but a source intimated that wouldn’t be an issue for Harrell should he be offered the job. There is also a question of fit. Harrell runs a very simple offense, one that is short on words. He’s spoken about his time in the NFL before and how unnecessarily complicated some play calls were back in his playing days with the Green Bay Packers. “There, it’s a West Coast offense and the playbook is this big and every play call feels like a paragraph,” Harrell said when he was introduced to the local media last February. “I used to tell them all the time, ‘If you pay me enough money, I’ll simplify this whole thing for you and make it a lot easier.’ They didn’t like that. It was like a badge of honor that they could remember the paragraph. ‘It’s great that you could remember the paragraph but I couldn’t remember the paragraph and neither could anyone in here. You’re not doing us any favors.’ ” Harrell’s time in the NFL, he said, strengthened his beliefs about the Air Raid and why he believes it’s the right offense to run. At USC, he coordinated a quarterback-friendly offense, and it showed.

Kapadia: What you should know about Eagles offensive coordinator candidate Graham Harrell - The Athletic
“Coach Leach always told me this, and I don’t tell my quarterbacks this, but he said, ‘What I’m giving you is a suggestion. You can call whatever you want,’” Harrell said. “And so that was kind of his philosophy. Now, we’ll let my quarterbacks, if you see something, check what you want. It’s not like you have this or that. If you see a way you can attack ’em, and you feel good about it, get us into it and let’s roll. “There’s times when they’ll call a totally different play and I don’t care. Just make it work. That’s kind of my philosophy. If it didn’t work, I’ll tell ’em that’s a dumb idea. If it did work, I’ll say, ‘Great idea.’” Wentz has acknowledged that he can be a control freak. I thought Pederson over-coached him at times last season. He would often urge Wentz to let the offense work for him. It felt like there were times when Wentz would’ve benefited if Pederson had just handed him the keys and tried to go up-tempo. Regardless of the offensive coordinator, this will remain Pederson’s offense. But I think Harrell’s approach to QB play is notable and something that Wentz would embrace.

What the Eagles should do at tight end - BGN
Outlook: A report emerged in mid-November stating that Ertz was one of three players with which the Eagles were having contract extension discussions. Ertz, who turns 30 in November, is currently under contract through 2021. It doesn’t seem like the Eagles should be in a rush to pay a player with two years remaining on his deal, especially when there’s a replacement waiting in the wings. From Ertz’s perspective, he has a case for a raise. Ertz currently ranks tied for sixth in annual salary. I’m guessing he feels like he should at least be in the top five.

Babes On Broad #21: Boom, Boom, Andy! - BGN Radio
Sam Wilson & Jessica Towne continue the search for an Eagles’ OC as a wild card name is thrown into the bunch PLUS What’s Going On Around Philly and thoughts on the Astros’ scandal! Powered by SB Nation & Bleeding Green Nation!

The Sidney Jones Question: What’s next for him at CB? - PE.com
What’s next for Jones at a position that is, inarguably, one of the key spots to watch for the Eagles as they prepare for 2020? There are many questions for the Eagles at cornerback, looking forward. Both Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills, the erstwhile starters, are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in March. Avonte Maddox and Cre’Von LeBlanc are both young and capable and probably perfectly suited for the nickel position, although Maddox could get some consideration from the Eagles at safety given that starters Malcolm Jenkins, who is seeking a new contract, and Rodney McLeod, who is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, have their own questions that need to be answered in the weeks ahead. Rasul Douglas played in all 74 defensive snaps in the regular-season finale at the Giants and then, like Jones, played only on special teams in the playoffs.

Reviewing the 2016 NFL Draft with PFF WAR - PFF
19. Philadelphia Eagles — Carson Wentz has led the Eagles to a Super Bowl, but besides him, the draft yielded little else. Seventh-round cornerback Jalen Mills became a starter but has earned just one single-season grade above 60.0, and offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai earned a PFF grade of 59.4 in his one season in which he played more than 1,000 snaps. However, Vaitai did play relatively well in his limited action in 2019 (74.4 grade across 541 snaps).

7 candidates to replace Phillip Daniels as Eagles defensive line coach - NBCSP
Brentson Buckner: Buckner will be a popular name thrown out there. Despite the Raiders’ improving from 13 sacks to 32 in Buckner’s one year on Jon Gruden’s staff, he was let go so they could bring in Rod Marinelli. That means the 48-year-old Buckner is available. A longtime player in the NFL, Buckner was the Cardinals’ DL coach in 2013-17 and held the same position with the Bucs in 2018. [...] Brian Fleury: A lot of these coaching hires come down to connections, so how’s this one: Fleury is a defensive quality control coach in San Francisco, where the 49ers have used plenty of wide-9 this year under DL coach Kris Kocurek. Kocurek was Jim Schwartz’s DL coach in Detroit. And guess where Fleury worked before this season? With the Miami Dolphins under then-DC Matt Burke, who is on the Eagles’ staff and has a long-standing relationship with Schwartz. In Miami, Fleury was a football research analyst but helped on the defensive side of the ball, including on the DL.

Jason Garrett to become Giants’ OC, per report - Big Blue View
At this point it seems as though it was inevitable that Garrett would coach for the Giants in 2020. It was first reported that the Giants was mutual interest all the way back on Nov. 24th. Garrett has experience with young quarterbacks, having coached Tony Romo beginning in the fourth year of his career and Dak Prescott as a rookie through the 2019 season. As a former head coach with a decade’s experience, Garrett should provide a sounding board for Judge. It will be interesting to see what kind of offense the Giants run in 2020, as Garrett has historically been a proponent of the “Air Coryell” offense, which is a stark departure from the West Coast offense the Giants have run in recent years.

Report: Former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to become New York Giants offensive coordinator - Blogging The Boys
As the Giants and Cowboys are division rivals it means that Dallas will see their former head coach twice a season for the foreseeable future. This will undoubtedly be awkward to some degree, but such is life in the NFL. Jason Garrett first rose to prominence as the Cowboys offensive coordinator in 2007. It was three and a half years later that he succeeded Wade Phillips as the team’s head coach on an interim level before getting the job full-time in 2011. Welcome to the new normal.

Two-Point Conversions: Look Into It - Over The Cap
Over the course of the 2018 and 2019 seasons, kickers combined to make 94.1% of extra point attempts, meaning the Expected Points Added (EPA) for that play is 0.941. During those same two seasons, the NFL’s two-point conversion rate was 49.4%, which is an EPA of 0.988. With that data, we now know that two-point conversions have a higher EPA than extra points. The 2018 season was probably for the first time in NFL history that has been true as a consequence of the 2015 rule change that moved extra points from 20-yard attempts to 33-yard attempts. NFL decision makers must understand their offense’s ability to convert two-point conversions and their kickers ability to do the same for one-pointers as a means for understanding how this applies to their team. Generally speaking though, the data now tells us that going for two is more beneficial for going for one. How much so? And in how many cases? Well…

NFL pressure index: Who needs a win the most on Conference Championship Weekend? - SB Nation
Unfortunately, these conference championship games haven’t been so friendly to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. In his time with the Chiefs and Eagles, he’s 1-5 in this round AND has an all-time record of 1-8 against the Titans. Both trends will need to change in order for Reid to get this win. While the Chiefs might not lose at all because of coaching, the blame still goes to the head coach. And lastly, on a personal note, Andy Reid is awesome. I think he needs a Super Bowl win to cement his legacy and so everyone will get off his back. Of course I’m rooting for the Chiefs because of family ties, but I’m also rooting for Reid.

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