Eagles News: Doug Pederson needs to improve when it comes to hiring assistant coaches

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Doug Pederson’s ominous track record hiring coaches - NBCSP
Let’s go back a few years. When Doug replaced Chip Kelly four years ago today, he kept seven of Kelly’s assistant coaches and brought in 11 assistants of his own. A year later he brought in Mike Groh. Out of those seven original Chip assistants? Six are still here, all but Cory Undlin, just hired as Lions defensive coordinator. Of the 11 guys he brought in? Only four are still here — all defensive coaches: Jim Schwartz, Dino Vasso, Ken Flajole, Tim Hauck. All seven assistant coaches he’s fired — Eugene Chung, Carson Walch, Greg Lewis, Gunter Brewer, Chris Wilson, Phillip Daniels and Groh - are his own hires. Of the 10 coaches from 2016 who are still here, six – more than half – are Chip Kelly holdovers. So the pattern keeps repeating itself. He keeps Chip’s guys and fires his own guys. And with four coaching openings at the moment, that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

What the Eagles should do at offensive tackle - BGN
Outlook: Following the Eagles’ playoff loss to the Seahawks, Jason Peters — an impending 38-year-old free agent — said he still wants to keep playing. Look, I love JP and fully believe he’s a future Hall of Famer. But the Eagles can’t bring him back in 2020. Howie Roseman can’t talk about how the Eagles need to get younger and how he can get too attached to the team’s veteran players and then go and bring JP back. I know it’s not going to be easy for them to move on from such a living legend who carries a LOT of clout within the NovaCare Complex. But the Eagles traded up to draft his heir last offseason. It’s time for the team to move on.

The Kist & Solak Show #170: Office Politics & Draft Prospects - BGN Radio
Michael Kist & Benjamin Solak hit up a grab bag of topics from the Eagles’ OC search to Andrew Berry’s future and the beginnings of their 2020 NFL Draft Content! Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Coaching News - Iggles Blitz
I looked at a list of all college football teams. I went through the teams who had the best offenses and the best coaches. Harrell stood out to me because of his college background, NFL background and track record. I need to write a lot more about Harrell, but I think he would be a terrific hire. He would bring new ideas and a new set of eyes to the Eagles offense. I think that is just what this team needs.

Breaking down the futures of the big 3 QBs of the 2016 draft class - PFF
The categories indicate if the quarterback is at least in the 50th percentile of franchise quarterbacks, 65th percentile, 80th percentile and the best (highest forecast) of the three quarterbacks in the class. Wentz benefits from the highest best guess forecast for passing grade, just as Prescott would have, to a lesser degree, if I ran simulations on EPA forecast distributions. After four seasons, Wentz is projected to have the highest passing grade going forward almost 50% of the time, with Prescott at 32.1% and Goff at 21.0%. The chance for being in the 80th percentile — being at or better than the sixth-seventh best quarterback in the league — is 35.2% for Wentz, 24.2% for Prescott, and only 16.0% for Goff.

Ranking the Eagles’ draft needs, long-term questions at each position and Shrine Bowl players to watch - The Athletic
Long-term question: Who are the Eagles’ cornerbacks? They need a lot of answers here. Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby will be free agents, leaving Avonte Maddox, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones behind. Generously, let’s say the Eagles can pencil LeBlanc and Maddox into two starting spots in the secondary. Given the way the team has handled Douglas and Jones, they should be considered nothing more than depth, which leaves at least two more starting jobs to fill when you factor in safety. I rank cornerback below defensive tackle in first-round likelihood only because I expect the Eagles to fill out their on-paper secondary before the draft, which might include re-signing Mills. Still, the Eagles have a lot to wade through and, as with wide receiver, speed needs to be a consideration.

Shrine Bowl Notebook: Miles Sanders’ college teammates knew the running back would be an exceptional rookie - PE.com
”I remember one night, after practice and after meetings, I got together with some of the young receivers and we headed out to the indoor (facility) to throw the ball around, but the lights were already on. Sure enough, we walk in, and over by himself working alone in the corner was Miles, doing bag drills. That’s all we needed to see right there.” Stevens told me that he knew his former teammate would find success in the NFL, saying he spread the word to everyone who would listen that Sanders would win Offensive Rookie Of The Year honors in 2019. Time will tell if that prediction will come true, but know that Sanders’ work ethic will help lead him to future success regardless of that outcome.

Where do the Browns stand on their GM search? Andrew Berry, George Paton in the mix - Dawgs By Nature
The favorite for the job seems to be former Browns VP of Player Personnel Andrew Berry, who was with the organization from 2016 to 2018 before making a move over to the Philadelphia Eagles. At 32 years old, taking on a general manager job would be a quick rise to stardom, one that would be tempting to Berry to take. As Zac Jackson of The Athletic points out, though, in the NFL, while coaches may get multiple cracks at a job, general managers often get just one chance. Given the turnover that has happened in Cleveland under Jimmy Haslam, does Berry want to take on that risk this early in his career? I think Berry will still be the guy — he interviewed on Friday — but it’s something for him to think about.

What to know about new Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin - Pride Of Detroit
We’ve all had a few days now to sit with the Detroit Lions’ decision to hire former Eagles defensive backs coach Cory Undlin as their new defensive coordinator. At first, the reaction was understandably disappointed. Matt Patricia got another one of “his guys” and it looked like he simply got someone who will execute the game plan that will be set by the coaching staff already in place. But is there a chance Undlin is something more than that? He only worked alongside Patricia once, and he’s seen a lot of different kind of defenses since then. It’s obviously Patricia’s defense, but could Undlin bring some different ideas and tactics to the defense? Is he the kind of person that may challenge him?

The evolution of the black quarterback - ESPN
Three legendary QBs discuss their journey with The Undefeated. [BLG Note: Donovan McNabb appears in this clip.]

Frank Clark didn’t learn from Earl Thomas - Music City Miracles
You would think the Chiefs would have seen what happened to the Ravens after they ran their mouths all week and made a collective decision to not do the same this week. Well, they didn’t. Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins said earlier this week that the Titans secondary doesn’t have a chance to stop them. That’s not a smart thing to say, but it’s not the dumbest thing that was said all week. That award goes to Frank Clark.

AFC Championship Preview 2020 - Football Outsiders
The Chiefs defenders are not the only people terrified by the Titans. I’ve incorrectly picked against them each of the last two weeks, and I’m picking against them again this week. But I think the Titans’ leading/trailing splits offer some consolation for my past mistakes. The Titans will thrive if they can run, but their ability to run requires a positive game script as much as it requires Derrick Henry and their offensive line to be effective. Good fortune with turnovers, fourth-down conversions, and touchdown conversions in the red zone has helped the Titans build leads the last two weeks. Simple regression will likely shift some of the team’s attempts away from their strength with the run and toward their (relative) weakness with the pass. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are better equipped to erase an early deficit than either the Patriots or the Ravens, and their offense is explosive enough to build a multi-score lead that the Titans would have little chance of overcoming on offense. The Titans can definitely win if they play the type of game they want to play. But the Chiefs can win any type of game, and that’s why they are appropriately favored this Sunday.

The Keys to the NFL Conference Championship Games - The Ringer
Bosa and Ford are going to make Rodgers’s life tough, but the Packers are well equipped to stop them. Left tackle David Bakhtiari is one of the league’s best, and Bulaga is solid on the right side. The middle of Green Bay’s offensive line is softer. Right guard Billy Turner is dealing with an ankle injury and left guard Elgton Jenkins is a rookie. The middle of the 49ers defensive line might be better than their edge rushers, with two excellent players—Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner—who can face off against the Packers interior line. Armstead wreaked havoc against the Packers in Week 12 even before Bulaga left. Here is Armstead tossing Turner, the right guard, to the ground and forcing Rodgers to get rid of the ball. (The pass fell incomplete.)

The Chiefs have a strange history against the Titans in recent years. Does it matter? - SB Nation
Andy Reid enters the AFC Championship Game 1-8 against the Titans, both as the coach of the Chiefs and his previous stint with the Eagles. It’s the only team he’s never beaten twice. None of these losses appear to be related, as four of the eight have been against different Titans head coaches. While it’s hard to find a traditional way all three of their last matchups relate, it’s easy to find an unconventional way they stand out: They are weird, one-score losses for the Chiefs. In each of their last three losses to the Titans, the Chiefs had a decent lead and a win probability of over 95 percent at some point in the second half. They lost all of them in a uniquely odd way. Should any of this matter this weekend? Let’s take a look back first.

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