The Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff is a pretty solid group of smart, young, and talented individuals who have their roster playing better than any other team in the NFL.
When a team has a deep collection of talented individuals as coaches, it’s commonplace for that staff to be picked apart by other teams. The Eagles are a prime example of this over the course of their history.
During Andy Reid’s tenure, guys like John Harbaugh, Brad Childress, Ron Rivera, and Doug Pederson all received head coaching jobs. After the 2017 Super Bowl victory, the Eagles lost two coaches to promotions. John DeFilippo became the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, while Frank Reich became the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
After five seasons, Reich is out in Indy and it leaves a very intriguing option should the Eagles lose more of their coaching staff. Should the Eagles look to bring back their former offensive coordinator?
We have both pros and cons to a potential deal.
Pros – prior work with quarterbacks
As bad as Reich has looked during his last year in Indy, he’s gotten pretty good production out of the quarterback position with a wide range of signal-callers. Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, and even Carson Wentz had an excellent statistical season with Reich as a play-caller.
Jalen Hurts has taken tremendous strides in his third season and appears to be only getting better. Reich could be the bridge from making Hurts a good quarterback into a top-five thrower of the football. Whether at quarterback coach or offensive coordinator, Reich would be extremely helpful.
Cons – who calls plays?
Shane Steichen is the offensive play-caller for the Eagles. He’s done an excellent job of making the Eagles a balanced team that is so hard to stop. Steichen could be on the path to becoming a head coach next season. If that’s the case, Reich would be an excellent choice for an offensive coordinator role.
But if that happens, who will call plays? Nick Sirianni appears to do a lot better away from calling plays, and Reich’s final few years showed a staleness to his overall group. Can Reich show he can develop his system in a way to get the most out of the talent he has?
Time will tell, but without Steichen, it’s hard to see the Eagles’ offense not taking a step back.
Pros – experience with Sirianni
You always want familiarity with a coaching staff. For the first time since high school, Hurts is in an offense for two straight years, and you are seeing how important that is for his familiarity. You would have to think that the system would not change no matter who the play-caller is.
Frank Reich’s prior relationship with Nick Sirianni is an important factor. That familiarity can go a long way to helping keep some consistency in the Eagles locker room.
Cons – experience with Sirianni
What? How can a pro, also be a con? Let me explain.
Nick Sirianni’s two key components to his coaching, that is leaps and bounds better than Doug Pederson, are that he has no ego when it comes to getting better and also he has several more contacts around the league. The emphasis on relationships is big with this Eagles group.
It wouldn’t look very good if a stale play-caller gets an offensive coordinator job just because he was Sirianni’s head coach in Indy. That would be comparable to the Press Taylor conundrum with Pederson
Personally, I would feel far more comfortable if Brian Johnson was promoted to offensive coordinator, if Shane Steichen were to leave, more than I would with Frank Reich just taking over.
Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire
