Doug Pederson Press Conference Roundup: What We Learned
The location of training camp
Starting off with something a lot less stressful, the Eagles are likely not going to be moving their training camp back to Lehigh. Pederson said he “kind of like[s] the idea of doing it right here in our backyard,” where the facilities are likely better. Though it wasn’t a definite answer, it seems like it’s staying.
They’re hiring a “personnel guy”
When asked about the current structure in the organization, Jeffrey Lurie said the Eagles are currently putting together a search for a “player personnel guy.” He refused to say if that person would be slotted above or below Howie Roseman on the organizational cart, claiming it would hurt the search process — what? — but bringing in a non-Howie mind is going to be a good thing. Here’s Jeff McLane pressing him on it.
The search started with 25 coaches and was narrowed down to 10, with three or four not leaving their current gigs
Eagles coaching search: 25->10->6->Doug.
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) January 19, 2016
Lurie explained that their coaching search started with about 25 candidates, which they narrowed down to the 10 best. “Three or four” of those guys weren’t leaving their current jobs in the NFL or college, so they moved on to the six remaining candidates – Duce Staley, Pat Shurmur, Adam Gase, Ben McAdoo, Tom Coughlin, Doug Pederson? – of which Pederson was the best. Apparently.
Of those college guys– maybe Saban, or the (denied) rumored college departure of Urban Meyer. Of the NFL? John Harbaugh was reported to be at the top of Lurie’s list.
Contract
According to numerous reports, Pederson’s contract is for five years.
The Schwartz
Pederson announced during his presser that Jim Schwartz is his defensive coordinator, but the search for an OC is still underway.
Pederson’s play calling
And finally, Pederson told the media that he called the plays in the second half of games for the second half of the season. That includes this weekend’s baffling attempt at a game-winning drive(s) against New England. He pretty much echoed what Andy Reid previously said about that drive, which was:
“We wanted to maintain our timeouts the best we could,” Reid said on Sunday, one day after the loss. “We didn’t want to give the ball back, at any point, to New England after we go ahead and score that next touchdown.”
After finally finding the end zone, the Chiefs attempted an onside kick that was recovered by the Patriots. If Kansas City managed to grab the onside kick, Reid says the team would’ve been in perfect position to tie the game as time expired in the half.
“We potentially would’ve had three timeouts and an opportunity to drive the field, which I thought was huge,” Reid said. “It put us in a perfect position to do that, we work, again on that every week. And so I thought that part was handled right.”
Potentially is key here, since that first score was never guaranteed and then the second one would have to come after one of the rarest plays in football, a successful, expected onside kick. Those are the kind of decisions (and rationale) we hopefully won’t see too much, or else this could shape up to be the Andy Reid-lite era.