According to Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, the Philadelphia Eagles are hiring former University of Kansas RB Coach Jemal Singleton to replace Duce Staley.
Singleton will take on both the RB Coach and assistant head coach roles left behind by Staley, who left the Eagles for Detroit after once again being overlooked for an internal promotion.
Replacing Staley was never going to be easy, but Singleton has an impressive resume. He only joined Kentucky this offseason after spending five years in the NFL. His most recent NFL stint was with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he of course worked with Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard. Mixon had a 1,137-yard season under his tutelage in 2019, while a committee effort headlined the backfield in 2020.
Before that, he worked as a running backs coach for the Raiders, where Doug Martin and Marshawn Lynch combined for over 1,000 yards. Interestingly though, he did work with the Colts in 2016-17, a year before Nick Sirianni arrived.
Outside of coaching RB’s, he was the special teams coach at Arkansas in 2015.
Singleton returns to the pros and will get to work with third-year running back Miles Sanders in an attempt to bring balance to an offense that was heavily skewed in favor of the pass last year. Sanders had a disappointing season after a stunning rookie breakout and turning that ship around will undoubtedly be a priority for Singleton.
Nick Sirianni’s coaching staff is almost complete now and the one question that remains pertains to the quarterback position. Jeff Stoutland is the only offensive coach remaining from the previous era, while every other assistant position will see a new name take the reins in 2021. The Eagles have gotten notably younger this offseason when it comes to their coaches, but whether or not that will pay dividends remains to be seen.
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